Puregolf2010 has officially launched and we have pulled off our first event of the year. Day 25 of the year was our launch event hosted by Terrace Downs.
It may sound rather bizarre to have the official launch some 25 days after opening but Jamie and I figured that very few people would be around (or indeed half alive) at sunrise on Jan 1 so we picked day 25. It was Wellington anniversary weekend and was thrilling to see a number of friends make the treck from the capital to support us and join in the day.
The day proved to be a cracker, with fine weather fine company, and in parts some fine golf. We had 24 golfers and a number of spectators, and played a stableford competition. Jamie and I played in the first group with a couple of interesting chaps: Paul from Auckland who has a holiday house at Terrace Downs and his friend from West Sussex, Matthew, who was out holidaying in New Zealand (and getting a reprieve from the harsh UK winter). They made for great company and it was fascinating to hear Matthewâ??s golfing story â?? along with his father they built a golf course on his family farm in the 70â??s, largely with their own labour, and proceeded to sell membership to the course, expand the facilities and now there is the full she-bang with two courses, a hotel, conference facilities and the worksâ?¦ Impressive stuff.  We were also blessed to both have caddies today. Micah was on the bag for me, a mate from the University of Canterbury where we both were on the student executive together. Micah is finishing off his Masters in Engineering Management at the moment, a one year degree that is proving very popular with engineering students interested in one day crossing over into management. Through this program Micah is working for the Martin jetpack company, the New Zealand outfit that has designed jetpacks and is about to commercialise them. Not sure if that means people will be flying around the streets of Christchurch with jetpacks when we return from our year of golf - that would be a fair shock to come back to! (It doesnâ??t look like they will have room for the golf clubs).
Back to the course, our best ball match was a tad one sided after Matthew and I took turns at making 3 stableford points on each hole which proved enough to be 6 up at the turn and finished on the 13th. Come the 16th hole, Jim and I left Matthew and Paul to it and joined each group for a nearest the pin competition as they came through. The 16th tee at Terrace Downs has spectacular views across the Rakaia gorge and towards the southern alps (it is where Mt Hutt is, and Terrace Downs doubles as a luxurious and handy base for the avid skier). The best way for a golfer (and non-golfer) to enjoy this view is simple, renowned and extremely satifsying â?? tee up an old ball and smash it off the cliffs and watch it sail to the turquoise water below. After this customary and rather brutal donation to doc, the 16th tee shot is a very different kettle of fish. The hole is merely 100m long with both tee and green perched on the edge of a cliff, a sloping green and a bunker at the back which is nigh on impossible to make par out of.  The hole requires finesse. And today Jamie and I lacked that â?? we combined with a total of 0 stableford points! It was also a graveyard for others scores and after watching it played a number of times I really appreciate that it is a cracker of a hole. It was also blessed with a few truly great shots today none other than by Jamieâ??s grandfather â?? Tommy Patton -  who coolly faded in an iron, picked up his tee and had another puff on his cigarette. All whilst the ball flew straight at the hole and rolled to within one foot of the cup, right in the jaws. Remarkable stuff for an 86 year old, and a great way to take out the nearest the pin award. The crowds on the 16th inspired some other good golf as well: Bart made a tap in eagle 3 on the last and a very good old friend of ours from school, Doug, made no fewer than 4 birdies in a row to finish his round!
Unfortunately our golf was not quite as good as Dougâ??s! The match finished 2&1 to me on the 17th  with generally the story of the day being that a par won the hole.  And thus the gathering of people who were watching JP and I come up the 18th (6 hours after our round began) were left without the dramatic finish promised at the amphitheatre-like 18th green nestled below the clubhouse.  Jamie and I finished with scores of 93 and 82 respectively, which has brought our overall shots to date very close together.
After the round we went into the beautiful clubhouse facilities and had plenty of food, drinks and good company. JP will do a blog about the formalities, but all I can say is a huge thank you to everyone who contributed, particularly Steve and Mary who own Kelford Engineering, our sponsors for the day, and Terrace Downs for putting on a great deal for us (and stunning weather). All in all we have raised close to $2,500 out of the day for The First Tee so I can safely say it was a resounding success.
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Bet you twisted poor Steve's arm right out of it's socket!
Posted by Sam Bree, 26/01/2010 4:53am (3 years ago)
Chisholm Park
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