"JP's guide to overcoming jetlag after the JFK to Shannon redeye - Step 1: Get on the road and head straight... http://t.co/zla8bump" - 12 hours ago
"Irish diaries: having the craic with jolly old ladies - I challenge you lot out there to show me somewhere... http://t.co/BGDcZ6tV" - 16 hours ago
"Touching down in the land of my childhood summers - Within minutes of disembarking Delta 122 I was struck by... http://t.co/YP7x5Ngf" - 21 hours ago
December 3 we??re back in Auckland and after about 4 days straight in the twilight zone our sleep stocks have been rejuvenated. Of late, we??ve been described as tired, washed, aged, weather-beaten, wind chaffed and even hagged. Whilst today, after some decent sleep we felt better, these descriptors kept flowing as an agglomeration of media arrived to the Grange Golf Club in Auckland to welcome us home.
Of course we have already played golf at The Grange this year as part of our mission, and having set the challenge of playing a new course every day we needed to pop out before our afternoon round at The Grange to satisfy the self-made-rules behind puregolf2010. So circa 830am we were teeing off at Ellerslie golf course, a 9 hole par three course inside the Ellerslie racetrack. Like Musselburgh, but not quite? What could/should have been a festival of birdies resulted in a miserly 2 each, not helped by the ??approximate?? distances given on the card for each hole!! We don??t have lasers or any of these mod-cons to tell us how far to hit it? We got it around, with JP scoring a record low for the year of 25... that??s about as cruisy as golf gets this year!
Ellerslie is a golfing facility in a handy spot for many Aucklanders where you can go and hit balls at the range, use the practice facilities or play the short course. It revolves around The Golf Warehouse store and the facility is run by TGW. The Golf Warehouse have been great supporters of both ours and The First Tee over 2010 and after golf we headed into their central store in Ponsonby to collect a few prizes to be handed out over the coming weeks. A tour of the store followed courtesy of owner Erik??s son Dane (we had met Erik at Turnberry many months ago and have stayed in touch and he will be joining us on day 365 at Cape Kidnappers). Dane??s tour proved an insightful look into the business of retailing golf equipment in NZ. If you??re looking for a new set of sticks, I??d be very surprised if you could get them anywhere for a better price than from TGW.
After our trip to TGW we headed to The Grange where we got the sticks out of Jucy again for another 18. Joined by Jane (my auntie and huge supporter of pg2010 along with her company, Westfield) and Sarge the banter was flowing in our group. Sarge hasn??t lost his chat during the course of 2010, despite continually losing to Auntie Jane! JP played with Geoff Burns (The First Tee board member) and Mike Benjamin, another supporter of The First Tee.
It was interesting playing at The Grange again after a year of golf to compare the golf course with. If I??m being honest I am surprised that it has hosted so many NZ Opens over the year. Comparing The Grange to Paraparaumu Beach, where we??ve just been out watching the action at the National Interprovincials, I know what course I??d be hosting the Open on? I think it??s about time NZ golf decided to get it back there.
Having heard that Manukau GC??s future is somewhat up in the air, puregolf2010 thought we??d nip down to play the course while it??s still there. Word on the street was it??s rather handy too. The club was good enough to squeeze us into a full Saturday field, and took the risk of handing us a microphone in the clubhouse when all and sundry were gathered. Given our ineptitude for public speaking this was indeed a leap of faith ?? as a member, trying to enjoy a well earned pint of Heavy while some little ex-lawyer is rabbiting on could, conceivably, be frustrating. As it happened, no one threw their handle at us and no words of abuse were spoken loudly enough for us to hear. So in that regard at least, thank you to the members of Manukau. And more to the point, thank you for allowing us the pleasure of playing your fine track.
By the 1st green UV levels were reaching 200 year highs and my nose ?? like Goldy??s ?? was turning into a big melanoma. A big brown brick itchy cancerous lump. So Bart seizing the initiative as he tends to do, went and asked a chap in the group behind whether he had sunscreen we could borrow / use. ??No worries mate, go for your life.? Y??er man??s act of hospitality really set the tone for the day. Somewhat dusty after spending the prior evening in the company of our ??friends? we could have been forgiven (or could we?) for being less than entirely focused on absorbing the day at hand. But there and then we snapped to attention and set our minds to beating Manukau. And to making some new friends.
Bonnie holes like the 4th were a pleasant surprise. Pebble Beach meets Auckland. At 280m or so (down wind on this occasion) you??re drawn into Going For It. High draw along the shape of the dogleg, or straight bomb over the estuary hazard? For a snap hooker like me it was a no brainer, and so I swiftly ??drew? one into the greenside bunker. The proper golfers among us hit pure 2 irons to the front edge. Except. From a downhill lie in the bunker I mistakenly hit a good shot that went in for an eagle 2 ?? and circa 320 birdie challenge dollars for The First Tee! Bart made birdie but a flustered Goldberg 3 putted for a disappointing par (as I had done on the par 5 2nd). Somewhat like a lamentable story of girls at university (boys, in Bart??s case): missed opportunities.
GB??s friend Will ?? who plies his trade in our old trade at DLA Philips Fox ?? joined us. And dazzled us with his wordsmithery. Words whose usage is reserved ordinarily only for Ivory Tower academics and Dougal Stevenson of Radio New Zealand, were leaping from Will??s tongue with lyrical majesty. The man is wasted on law. His poetry got me through the sort of acute frustration that derives from missed birdie opportunities.
On the 10th tee a heartwarming thing happened. The chaps in the group ahead shouted back that refreshments were on the house; we were just to inform the pro shop of our needs. No need for an 80 yard march though, no Sir. A young man by the name of Brad came tearing across in a cart that looked too big for his 12 year old frame. Brad asked us what colour of Powerade we would like, and whether we??d take a sandwich with our electrolytes (he didn??t put it exactly so). Tired, hot, delirious and thirsty ?? wee Brad looked to us like a passing ship must??ve looked to Tom Hanks stranded on that desert island in Castaway. Wilson was nowhere to be seen. Although Michael??s dishevelled orange-ing hair bore some resemblance to the red locks of the volleyball.
Throughout the back nine we continued to reflect on just what a good golf course Manukau really is. Conditioning??s perhaps not Kinloch-esque (I??m referring to the one in Virginia, not Taupo) ?? but to expect so would be unreasonable in the extreme. The holes, though, are fun and on the whole reward good shots. Which is to say that very little rewards were reaped. However, we had great fun and didn??t lose any balls: the litmus test for a successful golf outing in Nu Zillin.
As I said, the locals allowed us the grace of their attention for a few moments in the bar. I??ve never been comfortable with a microphone in hand, notwithstanding that I love to shoot my mouth off whenever possible. It was my ??turn? given Michael??s stood up and delivered ??most all year. Without his eloquence or aptitude for endearing himself to other humans through ??the sad eyes?, I resorted to self-deprecation and unbridled gratitude. As no one boo??d I consider the little talk a success (I set low standards and aspire always to exceed them). On a more serious note, the members were a hugely gracious bunch and welcomed us as their own. Out of a quick whip around came several hundred charitable dollars that??ll put a few kids through The First Tee??s golfership program. So well done Manukau ?? you??re a great lot and we from puregolf2010 hope your club manage to survive whatever challenges you face. Look forward to returning in a few years and seeing familiar faces. Next time I promise not to touch a microphone...
JP
Going back a few days to the first kiwi course for many months at Maungakiekie GC in central Auckland takes a while to jog the memory. Things are pretty whirlwind now that we??re home as we catch up with friends, family and for me, Gretta ?? who this year has been heroic. It's good to be home.
Maungakiekie on December 1 was an opportunity for us to have a few Auckland based mates along whom we hadn??t seen for a fair while. But being a Wednesday this meant that a mental health day was in order for a certain few scoundrals. Not that we condone such behaviour this year.. BoB.. And so it was I had Jimmy on the bag, JP had Blair and even Bart was blessed with a certain dairyfarmer-come-lawyer-come-caddy whose name will go unmentioned but whose presence (and photographic ability) was simply inspirational.
Making up the four was our host and committee member at Maungakiekie, Rob Bowe. A Good Bastard. And kindly got amongst the Homecoming Birdie Challenge ?? you see this was the first day of this birdie challenge (which we encourage you to all embrace) and Rob kindly modified the theme so that on this one day he was pledging $25 per birdie and $50 per eagle. Of course we struggled most of the round until a short par four on the back nine when he doubled the bet. Bart duly made an eagle 2, which combined with one birdie resulted in a $150 hole!! All good stuff for The First Tee.
Maungakiekie was somewhat of a welcome back to NZ Golf where many of the courses have been built on very small plots of land, where trees frame the hole, frame the fairway and frame the strategy. Eg, if you can hit it between the trees you will play well. You??d think that us coming from NZ would have grown up hitting the ball straighter than we do, but that??s hockey players for you... Maungakiekie is also on a piece of heaving undulating clay based terrain so there are some very dry patches and plenty of roll to be had if you can get the ball to the crest of the hill that bisects a number of fairways you'll have a mere pitch into many a green.
With the considerable roll and small greens it's far from easy when you're having a whirl first time around. Greens are going to be missed and so having your short game on song is a necessity.
There are a few famous names in the world of amateur NZ golf who hang around Maungakiekie GC. One chap was former gold medal hockey winner at the 76 Olympics now seriously good amateur golfer, Arthur Parkin. Another, the superintendant, Mr Michael Leitch has been the club champion here dozens of times, has played for NZ at an amateur level and has been working here as greenkeeper for longer than I??ve been alive. I think he had his 60th birthday in the club recently and it sounded like a loose night!
Michael also lives by the golf course, the 10th tee infact, and so before we embarked on the journey of the back nine, Rob nicked across the fence to get a few beers out of his fridge to keep us hydrated! The Maungakiekie version of a half way house. Pretty damn friendly as well.
After the round we were in the clubhouse yarning with the locals, albeit at this stage somewhat in the twilight zone after a long day out on little sleep. Then one of them alerted us to an honours board above us in the bar. The board celebrated the rare feat when a golfer shoots a score that is lower than his age. It listed golfers chronologically who had achieved such feat, and on the occasion where they did it more than once in a year there were gold stars next to their lowest score. This is where we learnt of Mr Keith Plowman ?? a gentleman who dominates this board unlike I??ve ever seen an honours board dominated in my life. For the last 20 years, Keith has been shooting his age more regularly than I??ve had hot dinners. For a number of years the board read something like 1996: 76 Keith Plowman + 120 (there were no room for 120 stars next to his name!!). Guinness got word of this feat and recently Keith was presented with the Guinness world record for the most scores under his age ?? at the time the number being greater than 1500. Amazing stuff.
At Howick Golf Club you really take your life into your own hands. Not one hole passed without screams of ??Fore!? jump-starting the pacemaker. It??s good old Kiwi up and back stuff, only a few mammoth pines protecting the unsuspecting visitor against errant blows from the neighbouring alley. Certainly keeps one on one??s toes. Not for the faint hearted or the deaf though. The views? More than worth the risk ?? just the sort of soul tonic I??d been looking forward to in recent weeks. A thrill seeking clifftop wander if ever there was one.
Our yet to be named Jucy Rental Campa pulled through the gates 10 minutes late; we got lost (again), and no one we approached seemed to have the foggiest where Howick GC was. Margaret in the pro shop was terribly good about it all though, and welcomed us like prodigal sons. Lovely lady. Even Goldy??s lack of golfing attire (left at home in the melee to get to TVNZ at dawn) didn??t seem to put her out ?? apparently the club takes a relaxed stance on such frivolities anyway. For the first time this year (probably ever) y??er man played in jeans and a t-shirt. Which provided constant amusement for me every time I looked around and spotted him looking suitably uncomfortable and sweaty. See below.
The club arranged for Nick ?? Captain of the Pennants Team (runners up in this year??s 2nd Division) ?? to make up a four / lead us safely through the warzone. He??s a young fulla that??s grown up in the area and played his golf at Howick for a decade. Used to walk down, now he drives (typical Gen-Y...). Very decent young man and as you might have guessed, a sharp shooter. En route to the 9th tee (our 1st) a good few of the locals struck up a yarn or three; a very friendly bunch. One gentleman asked if we remembered playing at Mahia early in 2010. ??Do we remember? You??ve got to be kidding me! One of the fondest memories of our trip...and without doubt there or thereabouts at the top of the Hidden Gem list. Can??t wait to get back...? As it happens y??er man was also uncle to the Mahia Club President, Peter, whom we played with back on Day 15. Small world.
Many trees came between my golf ball and the hole. By the time we made the turn the word Titleist had nearly faded entirely from the cover. What only a couple of hours prior was a new-ish ball was now an experienced range ball. Not one of the radiata was decent enough to deflect it in a favourable direction either. Welcome back to NZ...
Thankfully Nick??s good company and the views across the harbour were enough to distract me from the incessant thuds of urethane on wood and 26 howls of ??Fore!?. Margaret came out to meet us after the 18th too, with sandwiches and Powerades courtesy of the club. ??Our shout.? Certainly brightened up my day after just missing a(nother) 6 footer for birdie (i.e. $80 that would have gone to The First Tee but for my ineptitude). The club??s hospitality couldn??t have been any better.
In the bar afterwards we met some friendly locals and put the world to rest for an hour or two. Nick did a whip ??round too for the raffle (prize: a dozen balls), the proceeds of which went to The First Tee. Hell if I was a member I??d be taking every opportunity I could to get some new balls ?? they??ll sure need ??em...
The Long And The Short: lovely to be back around Kiwi folk at a friendly suburban club with views to die for. A relaxed affair and the sort of hospitality that I??ll miss next year! Thanks Margaret and the members of Howick for your warm welcome ?? look forward to coming back (next time with a helmet!).
JP
Well what a day it has been, an amazing way to wrap up our first NZ leg. Today, quite simply, was the story of one man's generosity - and that man is Roy Boquiron. I'll get to Roy in a minute.
I should say first that our good mate, Ace - who charitably lent us his car for the past 50 days - got up at the crack of dawn to drop us across town. He also made a second trip across town, later in the day, after I left a few clothes hanging up at his place. A good friend indeed.
We arrived at Roy's house around 645am, to meet our new friend over a big kiwi breakfast, the perfect preparation for our golf at The Grange (of which Roy is a member, both of the club and of the committee). Roy contacted us some weeks ago to pass on his best wishes for our journey, and to ask whether we'd like to join him and his son - William - at The Grange during our Auckland leg. I remember being quite blown away by the enthusiasm and kindness in that original email, but even that could not have prepared me for the inspiration Michael and I have drawn from this chap today.
Roy's auntie and mother-in-law rustled up a sublime fry up, which lined hungry stomachs handsomely, and probably added another inch to my expanding waistline. Roy, Mike and I then made our way a few minutes down the road to The Grange, for an 8am tee time. We met up with Roy's good friend, Raybert (who after 5 minutes became just 'Ray') and were introduced to various of the local sheriffs - including the starter, the club captain and the pro. A south westerly was blowing pretty viciously across the course, and after a restless night's sleep I questioned how competently I would acquit myself in front of our new friends. Promisingly, I knocked my first tee shot straight down the middle, some 50 metres or so short of the green. Needless to say it all went downhill from there.
Roy and Ray are of Filipino extraction, and both have amazing stories to tell about how they ended up here. Ray wasn't meant to be joining us, but thankfully answered the last minute call when Roy's son William had to pull out due to school commitments. It was great that he did, because R & R fed off each other the whole way around. They are obviously great mates, and play a bit of golf together. In fact, both are members of the local Filipino Golf Society, which plays an annual Ryder Cup against their Wellington expat counterparts (as well as various warm up matches against, e.g., Thais, Vietnamese, Japanese). It's serious stuff! Roy's the President, and from what I hear he has introduced some discipline into preparations for what in the past has been a somewhat more 'social' event. He even sits down with each member of the 14 strong team (give or take) and talks through with them how they'll play each and every hole of the two courses on which the tournament is held. I don't think I've ever met someone so methodical.
Within 2 years of taking up the game - in his forties - Roy got down to a 7 handicap. Because that was his goal. He breaks the game down into compartments, and devotes each attention on a rotational basis. Driving; iron play; chipping; and putting. Mike and I couldn't help but be impressed. Roy backed it up on the course too, and (now on a 14 handicap, after falling ill last year) was 3 over at the turn. Which was a good few shots better than us. It was a real pleasure seeing a guy so thrilled to be out on the course enjoying himself, the fruits of his systematic labour clearly paying off. Ray played some effortlessly graceful golf too. And it got me thinking: these chaps don't hit the ball half as hard as we do, but they hit it a dam sight straighter. Maybe there's something in that? (A rhetorical question...)
The Grange itself was a strong course. It's tight. When the wind's blowing, and you're playing off the blues, it's even tighter. And the greens were pretty quick too. So we had our work cut out to make a decent score; but having said that our Filipino mates were tearing it up, so there were no excuses. I had particular difficulty on the par 3s, which are pretty dam tough. One of them - ironically one of the two I scored a par on - was nigh on impossible for a punter like me that plays a strong draw/hook. Tall pines form a natural chute through a rising gully to a narrow green surrounded by bunkers. The pin was on the far right; the wind howling from the right. Chances of Jamie hitting it on the green (with a 4 iron): NIL. A downhill bunker shot to 25 feet and a putt, though, was enough. Phew.
Roy and I won the haggle on the 15th, 4&3. My friend deserves the lion share of the credit, with his outstanding front nine setting up the victory. Poor Mike and Ray didn't know what hit 'em. I also managed to beat Mike again, with 31 points to his 27. (Roy presented him with his Weetbix later in the day, and enjoyed witnessing our daily ritual).
After the golf we retired - battered and bruised by the elements - to the plush clubhouse at The Grange for a nice lunch with Roy, some of his mates and the club captain, Phil. Great toasted sandwiches (kindly purchased by Roy on our behalf)!
Then came what was perhaps the most memorably part of the day, for me. Roy invited us back to his house for afternoon tea (I forget the Filipino term he used for it), over which we waxed lyrical about pursuing one's goals, contributing to society and all things in between. A couple of hours of philosophising to remember. It would be inappropriate of me to share publicly what Roy undoubtedly shared in confidence - suffice to say he's an incredibly intelligent, open, encouraging and generous man, and we were utterly inspired by his approach to life.
One of Roy's current goals - which I can share - is to play the Old Course at St Andrews. After being told by his mates that it's impossible to get on there (what with the ballots and everything they have there), Roy made it happen. Carpe diem, is his motto (embossed on his personal stationary, no less). On August 6 Roy will pick up his sticks and tee off on the famous links; and on the 18th he'll get his photo taken walking across the Swilken Bridge. We are very excited for him, and can't wait to hear about his experience.
I could go on about memories of today, but it's late in the evening and I've got an early flight to catch. To Sydney. To begin the next leg of our odyssey.
Day 50 has been an incredible day. As I said earlier, for me I will always remember it as the day we met Roy Boquiron, one of life's genuinely good people. And his friend, Raybert. The pair have pledged their support for us, and have each donated a dollar to The First Tee for every course we played this year. It has been a privilege to spend our last day in NZ with them. No doubt our paths will cross again; hopefully they'll be available to play at one of the events we hold in December upon our return home.
Thanks also to The Grange for hosting us today - a very challenging course, and a welcoming club too.
The alarm's going to go off in 4 hours 40 minutes, so it's time to bid you farewell, and finish my packing.
See you on the other side of the ditch...
With our Australian leg looming - and plenty to sort out before we hop on a plane Saturday morning - it was nice today to have a low key one. Just the 9 holes. All of which were par 3s. Most of which were pretty short. Nice.
The morning was spent sorting our lives out - writing to golf courses in the US, running errands, and the like. Driving around Auckland in 100% humidity provided its own challenges, and tested the limits of my patience. How do the locals cope? I swear the washing hung out this morning had absorbed, rather than shed, water throughout the day. Bring on that dry Aussie heat.
At The First Tee we hooked up with Shane and Stu, a couple of the coaches, who joined us at next door Firmount for a hit. They're both pretty handy. Very handy, in fact. And top guys too. On our way around they shared a few of their experiences at The First Tee, and gave us a better understanding of how the program runs at a micro level. Shane and Stu are passionate lads, and it's pretty inspiring hearing them talk about what they teach. There was a sincerity in their words that I wouldn't have thought comes through when many speak about their work.
Stu and I won the haggle, 2up. Mike lost the puregolf2010 haggle too, with 31 shots to my 28. Because the course was short, we managed a few birdies too (M:1; J:3), to keep the counter ticking over. (This is one of the counters that will appear on our soon to be constructed stats page - keep an eye out for it).
After walking off the 9th we dropped our clubs and joined in with a lesson. These particular kids had only recently come into the program, and were about 7-10. What struck me initially - and this is something that still sticks in my mind - is how proficient these wee fellas were at introducing themselves. Without a shadow of hesitation they came up, one by one, to shake hands; look me in the eye; and tell me their name. Pretty incredible really. If only I had been so courteous as a wee tyke...
Stu then took the kids next door to the range, to hit a few balls. The group decided they would hit 2 balls each, then rotate; and that's what they did - no gripes, moans or arguments. Two deliberate blows and then some encouragement for their mates. One or two were particularly forthcoming in telling me about their (limited) golfing experiences, and about themselves generally. A wee chap by the name of Conor (whose name my brother shares) was especially chatty.
In the classroom - where they played "Who Wants to be a Millionairre" - the good behaviour uncannily continued.
It's now late in the evening, and the rain is pouring down. The wind is howling too. And in the morning we're getting up at the crack of dawn to play our last round in New Zealand.
We have had another good day playing at Akarana golf club. The members and management welcomed us to their course and kindly raised $230 for The First Tee NZ. Pretty awesome stuff from the "most social golf club in Auckland".
Akarana is a fine course. We have heard it is very boggy in the winter, but today it played as a very solid course. Had a few great par threes with water hazards around the greens. And a number of challenging par fours, particularly the stretch 13 thru 15. The course was in good nick so congrats goes out to the greenstaff.
Fortunate enough to play with Geoff Burns and Peter Williams today from the First Tee NZ board. Apologies to Geoff for losing the match, and having him suffer the consequence of chowing down on a couple of weetbix.
Check out the short video below: a final 'farewell' NZ video will follow tomorrow so stay tuned!
The Muriwai links, west of Auckland, is renowned as a pretty stern test of links golf. The course is a tale of two halves in my mind. The front nine is open and sparse and there is very little trouble, either tee to green or around the flat greens. It is a nine that is very much subject to the wind, which meant that on a calm day like today it was uncharacteristically easy. The scoring on the front nine reflected the benign conditions. In particular from one of our playing partners, Robert, who shot a spectacular 34 (2 under par) off a 10 handicap. Epic.
Rob??s golf also combined well with JP and it was a tough ask for Craig Batty (our other playing partner) and I to keep up. By way of introduction, Craig is a good guy and golfing enthusiast that we met while in Christchurch. He is in the insurance game and has the flexibility to get out for a round or two of golf midweek which is the way to go! Both Craig and Robert are proud members of Titirangi where Craig is also a member of theit an interclub (pennants) team. This matchplay experience proved handy as we turned to play the 10th hole 5 down?
The back nine was much more challenging with tee tree and scrub catching misdirected shots and more undulations on and around the greens. This nine is set amongst the sand dunes and is more of a typical links. Shots to elevated greens, shutes off the tee between the sand dunes and gnarly pot bunkers made it a better test of golf.
The standard of golf remained high on the back nine, but the format we played - best ball, but second ball counts if it is a tie - made a comeback easier for Craig and I. We quickly started gnawing away at the lead and by the 17th had it back to 1 down. At that stage our combined score for the back nine was level par, with Jamie and Robert not too far behind. Then Craig came to the fore, sinking a 12 footer to keep the match alive on the 17th, and then an incredible double breaker for birdie on the last to win that hole and halve the match. High fives all around. And no weetbix punishments for the match.
I think that playing golf with guys who are scoring really well makes you compete with them and subsequently score better. That was the case for both Jamie and I at least until the last when I bottled it for a triple. The scores ended 78(38 points) and 83 (34 points).
Final thoughts on Muriwai are that I would love to play it again in the wind to get a better feel. It has some awesome holes, like the 100m par three 17th sitting on the highest point on the course and completely subject to the elements. And the 13th where you hit to a narrow and elevated green with three tiers and trouble both sides. The course was very green and the kikuyu grass was very spongy which made it not play like a typical hard and fast links. There were good sandy and scrubby lies off the fairway which required some creativity, particularly around the greens. But for me, the course could have been much better ?? it does not capitalise on the natural terrain enough, particularly to give it the wow factor around the ocean, the par fives all run the same direction (a pet peeve of mine) and there are few holes that require decisions off the tee ?? there are no risk reward par fours or ??three shot?? par fives. That said, I think Jamie rated it as one of his favourite in the country.
The day ended with a good chat on the drive home, and a very nice meal with Geoff and Jill Burns where the banter for tomorrows round begun..
M
This morning started promisingly with a meeting with Air NZ at the coffee shop underneath their flash offices in downtown Auckland. Hopefully another convert to the puregolf story, and potentially they could be a real help in overcoming the logistical (and financial) challenge involved with our year. Touch wood.
The golf today was at North Shore golf club. North Shore is unique in that is has 27 holes separated into three different nines, and any two of the nine holes can be combined depending on the day and the mood of the green staff. Today we played two nines which together formed the ??Red course?. The golf was slow and combined with my less than bubbly mood, the opening holes seemed quite tedious. It was no surprise then that my frustrations flowed through to my putting and a number of three putts did neither the score, or the mood, any favours.
However, we were on the golf course and a mighty fine golf course in that so it only got better as the round went on. A couple of long putts always help ?? a relatively easy task when the greens are running at a good speed like today.
On the 10th tee we were joined by two affable chaps, Alan and John. Both these guys have been members of North Shore golf club for at least as long as I have been alive, so their local knowledge did not go amiss. By this stage JP and I were both starting to hit the ball with some (but not a lot of) conviction so our haggle (JP and I against the locals) was always going to be a close one. John just about made eagle on the 10th (with a shot) and things were looking ominous. John continued to play like a dream and hit it really well to break 80 off a 13 handicap ?? great golf. But Jamie and I stayed there or thereabouts (largely thanks to Jim??s play) and I managed to sink a four footer on the last to halve both the haggle with the locals and the stablefords for the day against Jamie. So there were no weetbix consumed today! scores 84/85 for 32 points each.
North Shore golf club impressed me today. There are some interesting holes wandering around the river and a few lakes that keep the ball manufacturers in a job. The fairways, greens and bunkering were all in great condition ?? which for me is starting to become a must for any course in the top bracket. One hole was particularly gnarly ?? the par 4 15th measuring in at 430+m off the black tees. It did not help that when we stood on the tee today it was pouring with rain (and without my wet weather gear I was drenched).
The day finished with dinner at distant relatives of mine, two of whom I had not met, but live a mere 5 minute walk from where we have been staying in Auckland. We had a beautiful dinner (featuring kiwi lamb and some spectacular chocolate meringues) with Tony, Shona and Bill. We traded notes with Bill, particularly re Royal Auckland which he has been playing around for many many years. It is pretty inspiring that at 90 he still gets out once a week and scores ??about 100??. Tony has been involved with Millbrook so it was interesting to hear some thoughts that have been behind the developments there.
Finally, whilst on the family note, it has been great to have spent a couple of days with my Auntie Jane and Sarge, along with my folks and Jo (lil sis) who travelled to Auckland for a couple of nights to join in the puregolf experience. I think that the olds saw puregolf as just a big yarn when I first talked about it with them back in October but now they are some of our biggest supporters. Both mum and dad are avid golfers and it was cool for them to see what we get up to, how we get received at the various golf courses, and all the admin that goes on behind the scenes. The family thing will continue this coming week as we head into Sydney. In the meanwhile it was goodbye to the olds for another year or so, but you will be pleased to know I endeavored to ??keep in touch??.
Mike
Day 43 was a day to be remembered. Not necessarily for the golf, but the physical challenge that we put ourselves through hiking around the Waitakere Golf course.
This course is steep. And I mean really steep. Frequently we stood on the tee block, still out of breath from our walk up the prior fairway. There was no subtlety to the undulations, just brutal hills that decorated most of the holes. At the end of the round our legs were sore, and we needed a recovery session in Auckland harbour to recuperate.
Waitakere golf course is a unique track. Out west from Auckland, the experience begins with a quaint drive in on a road cut through native NZ bush. The entire golf course follows a similar trend as holes around the perimeter of the course are flanked by dense bush. In an effort to preserve as much of the native land as possible, a number of tee shots on the short par threes are nestled within bush on artificial tees ?? a different experience (and not the best time for JP to hit a block when hitting through a narrow shute!). Some of these holes are so well hidden that a group in front of us missed one altogether (admittedly they had had a few Heinekins).
A number of greens are also nestled within the bush with hazards on all sides. For example there are two reachable par fives, number 3 and 5, where an errant shot into the green on all sides will definitely be a gift to the national parklands. This course has character and plenty of it, and I definitely recommend any Aucklanders to check it out.
The course is good fun to play, and could be a good course to score on once you know your way around it. This is because of the 4 short par fives, and the six par threes which are all no more than a 9 iron. The difficulty factor definitely stems from the bush and managing the undulations and adapting your club selection accordingly.
The hospitality from the staff at Waitakere was first rate, and they gave us heaps of encouragement for our adventure. When we shared with them that we thought it was a pretty long walk around their track, they told us about the troop of 85 year old members that play the course (without carts) every weekend - legends.
We were joined today by Susan Farron who is a AAA rated New Zealand golf professional. I managed to pip Susan in the split sixes comp, but she had the lowest score of the day with a 74 and was accordingly excused from weetbix duty. Apart from hitting a good ball, Susan is an excellent golf coach. She is ambitious with her coaching career and shared with us some insights into life as a golf coach. It made both Jamie and I think of a good friend of ours, Doug, who will one day become a fine golf coach.
So all in all another good day for puregolf2010, final scores M - 75 (38 points) and J - 83 (31 points).
Alistair McKenzie is renowned as one of the best golf course architects of all time. His stable includes Augusta National, Cypress Point, Royal Melbourne and many other famous courses. McKenzie spent a couple of days a few decades back having a play at some land West of Auckland, and the output, Titirangi Golf course is something special.
I must confess that before this year began, I had barely heard of Titirangi GC. Yet, on our travels we have consistently heard that this little McKenzie track is, without a doubt, one of New Zealand??s best.
Looking at the card, Titirangi looks like a walk in the park. It is short ?? par 70 and barely 6000m long off the black tees. But the typical McKenzie design requires strategy and placement. You don??t stand on the tee with your driver and smash it as hard as you want. Tee shots require careful choice of iron or fairway wood, often with some shape, to place your ball in the best place to approach the green. It is a feature of the design that holes can seem simple when played well, but monstrously difficult when not. The course was in awesome nick, playing fast but very fair. The greens were glass and the moral of the story today was do not leave your ball above the hole!
I will briefly mention a couple of features of the course. The par 3??s are beastly. 170m + iron shots to a green, surrounded by bunkering and native kiwi scrub. And the greens are intense. For example the 7th green has three tiers and when you get above the hole (as Jamie did today) you need to exhibit sheer brilliance to stop the ball on the tier below (as Jamie did today!). Golfers with far more talents than Jamie and I would be very content with pars on each of the short holes at Titirangi. The stroke 1 hole, the 12th, is an awesome hole cut through the bush and measuring no less than 420m off the tips. Another par to Jamie on this hole effectively saw the end of the four-ball match as with it, he and Phil Leishman went 4 up. Not ideal. I can't do the course justice in a short blog, but to give you an indication it is up there with Paraparaumu for me as one of NZ's best.
We were joined today by not only Phil Leishman, but his camera crew shooting footage for the UBS golf show. Fortunately the producer, Pete, is a regular at Titirangi and proved to be a walking course guide which was crucial. We were also joined by Craig Heatley. Craig brought The First Tee to New Zealand in 2005 and is the Chairman of the Board of TFT. He would make for a great mentor ?? a self made man who started out running a couple of mini golf courses, went on to start up the Rainbows End theme park and then brought Sky TV (cable) to NZ in the late 80??s. But importantly, Craig is a down to earth guy who was only to keen to share with us some of his experiences. Craig is a fanatical golfer, and spends a fair bit of his time heading the media committee at Augusta GC. I guess he has to make sure that characters like Leishman behave when filming at that iconic event. Craig is a handy golfer as well and has won a couple of pro-am tournaments in the US playing with both Freddy Couples and Phil Tataurangi. However today, he was paired with me and we were smoked by Phil and Jamie. Phil made the most of his 9 shots, and his peculiar and somewhat gay 'putting dances' were frequently followed by his ball dropping in the back of the cup for a "four, net three" (and some cheeky quip about the match score). JP also played some good golf and was looking at a handy score until he hit the self destruct button on the 15th. Perhaps this had something to do with the entourage who joined us from that hole on.
In sum ?? the match score was 5/4 to JP and Phil, but Craig and I ??pressed?? on the last four holes and won our money back (read ?? we did not have to eat weetbix). I held on for the stablefords to beat JP on the day. Scores 81 (33) - 85 (30).
Today we started a wee filming exercise we will do when we play with some of the characters along the way. Have a look at Puregolf2010 TV, edition 1, below. We welcome suggestions of questions to ask people on the way around.
Peace
M
P.S A huge thank you to the guys at Titirangi for hosting all of us today.
P.P.S I have used my judgment to edit Phil's 3rd question from the video below...
I have just woken from a mid-afternoon nap. Thinking about having a late afternoon nap as well. I am tired.
Today started very early. After another great night of banter at the Patersons??, who kindly hosted us for dinner, we woke bright eyed and bushy tailed to tell our story on national tele on TV1 this morning. The interview went OK, apart from me having a howler when I said we will ??keep in touch?? with Gret and Ange, which as Jamie suggests is what one might say to an obscure work colleague? I think next time I will say something along the lines of ??we speak with the girls daily, miss them dearly and hope to see them a couple of times along the way before we get back to NZ in December.? Check out the link on our media portal above to see the footage.
We rushed from TVNZ to the newly renamed Royal Auckland Golf Club at Middlemore for our 9am tee time. We were joined by two members, Mike Benjamin and Bryan Hannan who were charming chaps and gave us some crucial local advice. First impressions is that this club is a golfing sanctuary. Peaceful, with mature trees and a classical clubhouse. It had an atmosphere, like Millbrook, where you just relax and enjoy your walk. Just what we needed after the adrenaline of appearing on TV!
We played off the blue tees, which was a good option as we saw the golf courses teeth. At 6200m it is a stern walk, and with a bit of a breeze today the course played its full length. One of the best features of the course was the couch fairways. These fairways were completely redone a few years back (which I am sure caused some consternation at the time) and now they have come up an absolute treat. Couch grass requires less water and so the fairways remain in their immaculate state year round. Unfortunately I missed most fairways today, and instead was pitching the ball out of the trees (each hole is tree-lined) and scrambling to make par. My scrambling was helped by the greens which were quick and rolled incredibly true. Some local knowledge also helped on the greens, and my partner in the four-ball match, Bryan, was quick to point out the severe swales on a number of the greens. From the fairway, the greens looked generally quite flat but they weren??t! The last par three, the 13th, had a green that was so severe I lagged a 25 foot putt three feet to the right to prevent it being catapulted 30 feet left and off the green. The greens require thought, creativity and subtlety to have a good day with your short game. And they are the kind of greens that you just don??t get tired of putting on.
Bryan and I were put to the sword by Jamie and Mike who combined to beat us 5/3 in the four ball match. A real thrashing led mainly by Mike who hit the ball like a dream and barely missed a fairway ?? great golf to shoot an impressive 80. Both the locals also shared with us their war stories about golfing holidays through the UK. Mike, off an 8 handicap, managed a 73 first crack around Dornoch which he described as his finest golfing moment ?? that is the kind of day we all long for!
The day finished with JP having 3 weetbix as a punishment for losing by more than 5 stablefords. Scores 82 (33 points) and 90 (26 points). Check out the vid below for some good snaps of the course, and to see Jamie with his new mate. Thanks again to Royal Auckland GC for hosting us for another perfect day on the road.
M
P.S A huge thanks to Mike for his generous donation to the First Tee today.
On this fine Tuesday we played at Remuera, which is a fine course. We had fine company too - in Geoff and, on the back 9, Liz - so everything, in fact, was fine. Except for the fact that my eye balls are sunburnt. I need sunglasses.
I also need some serious swing surgery, because today the ball was traveling to all corners. On several occasions Geoff cheerily informed me that he'd NEVER seen anyone hit the ball where I had. Confidence building stuff. I will say though that on each occasion I managed to scrape together a par - albeit a bandit one. Michael played far prettier golf than I did, but again he fell victim to crap-putting-itis. He had 40 putts, none of which were singles - every putt he hit was either preceded or followed by another. I had my own worries too - aside from the pinball style golf - including a 2 stroke penalty on the 13th for playing the wrong ball on the green. Careless.
Remmers is a pretty pleasant place to spend a Tuesday afternoon. Taking its name from the affluent suburb in which the course sits, Remuera doesn't feel like a place that's short of a buck. The facilities were extensive and, from what I saw, first class. The grounds were mature, and to reach the carpark one must first navigate a long, snaking driveway. There's something about long driveways...they make a place feel infinitely more stately. Another notable experience was my chicken and avocado sandwich, which Geoff kindly shouted me before our round. Sumptuous. At Remuera even the sandwiches are posh (NB: I use that term in a positive way).
The golf course itself is undergoing renovations and, I understand, has been for several years. Geoff was of the opinion that these are for the better; subscriptions, he said, were up - so they must be doing something right. There are a couple of temporary holes in play, but they didn't feel all that temporary - in that their temporary greens would be the envy of a few greenkeepers around the country. My compliments to the greens staff. The same congratulations must go to Dad's Army, who do voluntary work on the course every Tuesday, pruning the roses and so on. You couldn't count the number of flower beds on the course - so Dad's Army must be a very busy bunch indeed. We met a couple of their number today on the 8th tee - good humans.
Our companion for the day - Geoff - offered a balance of good conversation and quick wit. The further around we got, the more intense the sledging got. When we play with him again next week I'll feel comfortable getting in his ear from the outset. On a more serious note, it was interesting picking his brains about The First Tee (he is on the Board, and was one of those that got it off the ground) and his other business interests. Geoff appears to have a good few strings to his bow. The same could be said for the lovely Liz McKinnon, who joined us for a hit on the back 9. Liz is a pro, manages the junior section of New Zealand Golf, and has a 10 month old daughter - Aileee - whom she brought around with us today. Having played on the European Tour for a few years, sbe can certainly hit a golf ball, and was only too happy to offer a couple of much needed swing tips (although probably in vain). Liz has also worked with The First Tee, and is running a Pro Am fundraising event at Clearwater on the 21st of Feb - the proceeds of which will go through The First Tee, specifically earmarked for developing junior girls' golf in Christchurch. If you'll be in the area, there are still a couple of spots left (teams encouraged) - click here for further info.
The more and more involved we get with The First Tee, the more good people we meet. I don't think it's a coincidence that the program attracts these wholesome humans - it's obviously got something special, something that these people 'get'. Whatever it is, it has clicked with Michael and I - although I have never before been described as a "wholesome human", and I'm not about to label myself as such. Seriously, though, get in behind it. Check out the website; learn about it; if you want more info ask for it; if you feel moved by what they do, donate whatever you can (no amount too small) to them through our site. The more kids that go through this program, the better. It's quite simply really.
Think we might start interviewing playing partners - with their permission - after each round, with a list of 5 basic Qs. Input invited.
JP
Chisholm Park
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