Day 1
Friday 22 November
Waimate Golf Club
With the weather set fair, we gathered at the OGC car park nice and early for the ride up through Oamaru to Waimate. Only one of the vans was missing so Phil E had to go find it. With bags and clubs loaded up we set off. We picked up Eric outside Cherry Farm to make up a full squadron.
​
Waimate was lovely. We were made to feel very welcome and had the course more or less to ourselves. With manicured fairways meandering through rolling hills, it was a joyful experience. New Zealand country golf at its best. It's a great golf course and if you haven't played it, you should.
​
Scoring wasn't that flash but Bruce Grant cleaned up the single stableford competition with 36 points. We gave ourselves a pep talk given we had an inter club match arranged the following day.
​
Dinner that night was held at the Heritage Motor Lodge and after a long day driving and playing golf, filled a hole as the food kept on coming. Off to bed for sleep........
The Sheriff was in fine form dishing out fines. At Waimate we had lift and place allowing one club length relief. On a short drive Eric took full opportunity but then moved his ball back behind the yellow tees thereby imposing on himself a misdemeanour. It was an easy fine for The Sheriff particularly as he was in the playing group.
Day 2
Saturday 23 November
Lower Waitaki Golf Club
We assembled for our pre-match team talk at the bonded store of the New Zealand whisky company. As you do. We were given a very interesting and entertaining tour of the facilities and as you can see, listened intently to our guide. We even helped the angels take their share by sampling some of the clear liquor.
​
Then we went across the road to the shop for even more tasting. At 10:00 am this was a bit on the early side to be hitting the sauce or the electric soup as my Scottish friends call it.
Here we find the assembled group tasting the samples provided. The man in the forground in the purple jersey is on to his 3rd sample with more to come. Someone suggested Deano should get the group to stand up and sing Happy Birthday which would mean he wouldn't have to shout the following Wednesday. He could have saved himself a decent chunk of cash.
​
Anyway, nicely warmed up and feeling good, it was short drive out of Oamaru to the golf club at Lower Waitaki. Once again we were given a generous and warm welcome and it was time to play.
Deano was first away and here we see hole 1 at Lower Waitaki. The course is as flat as a flat thing and if playing that kind of golf is your thing then you'll enjoy it. For the record we lost the inter-club match 7 and a half to 5 and a half so not a bad effort.
Dinner was at the Del Mar restaurant on the Oamaru waterfront and was a fine feed. It was a good night. Only one more day to go. It was a smelly ride home in the van with farm animals doing their best to foul the air.
Day 3
Sunday 24 November
North Otago Golf Club
North Otago G C is on the south side of Oamaru. Surrounded by farmlands and the Pacific Ocean, on a fine day it's a great golf course and is highly recommended. We had a fine day.
​
Brent Pownall had a net albatross. Playing one of the par 5s, the one with the big dip in front of the green, Brent played his third to the putting surface but of course couldn't see it land. We walked up mystified why it wasn't on the green. Having searched high and low we finally looked in the hole and there it was. 3 net 2 on a par 5 :}
​
We played our normal 2,3,4 and the money was collected and shared out accordingly. After a BBQ which was absent of any vegetable matter, we packed up the clubs one last time and turned south and headed for home. We did stop in Palmerston though to change drivers and buy ice creams.
This is a single scoop cone though it looks as big as Bruce's shiny head. Yum yum.
​
Trevor is enjoying his. Funny how people have bought an ice cream with colours to match their outfits or their head.
Bruce is deciding if he bought the right flavour whilst Neil is obviously in love with the ice cream he bought.
Playing For Old Woody
In the end it wasn't even close. Here is our run away winner with the winner's trophy.
​
Thanks once again to Fairway Phil for organising the trip. To John Marsh for the generous supply of one of the vans. To our van drivers Phil Ellis, Bruce Grant and Geoff. And to all who went on the trip making for a fun three days out. Accepting that some people only played 2 of the days, the final scores are which are a simple stableford total for the 3 days;
​
Phil Ellis 111
Bruce Grant 104
Eric Olsen 103
Neil Cameron 98
Keith Newton 98
Duncan Harvie 97
Geoff Laney 94
Bob Griffiths 93
Dean Parsons 93
Phil Broughton 92
Bruce Carvell 92
David Bloor 90
Sandy Ross 88
Lloyd Morgan 84
Warren Egen 82
Brent Pownall 82
John Alexander 81
Tony Attenborough 80
Trevor Bolt 80
Dave Ehlers 71
David Peart 70
Richard Freeman 65
John Marsh 60
Mahmoud Nikou 60
Alistair Adam 57
​
​