It is a little difficult for 82-year-old Castlecliff golfer Pauline Grant to recall all the details which made her a national veterans champion.
The fact Grant had to wait until this past Sunday to finally receive her salver and gold medal for the NZ Golf Home Links Women's Veterans Cup, which she won way back on March 17, blurred details a bit.
Grant and her club were informed of her success a couple of months ago in the popular competition format for all New Zealand women golfers.
"It took a while, unless they like to keep it a secret," she laughed in the Castlecliff clubrooms yesterday.
"You just forget all about it."
Grant had been filling in on a Castlecliff team contesting a championship at the Manawatu Golf Club in Palmerston North on Sunday.
As another Palmerston North golfer had won the junior title in the Home Links series, it was decided to have a ceremony to honour both after the day's play.
On March 17, Grant was one of thousands of women golfers to play a round at their own courses at clubs up and down the country.
The top scores decide the winners in each division and Grant shot a nett 64 at Castlecliff, which has a par around 73-74.
The right-hander was really in the groove carding a round 8.5 below her handicap.
"It's all on the day, just everything went right," Grant said.
"You don't get many days like that but you take them when you can."
It was a simple as that, as being more than nine months ago Grant cannot recall any other contributing factors which made her round so special.
More than likely it is due to her continued enjoyment of the game. She gets down to the club to play at least twice a week.
Coming from a sporting background, Grant took up golf with her late husband Donald after the couple returned to Wanganui in 1974.
They had shifted towns every four years due to Mr Grant's work in the Inland Revenue.
She had played tennis and cricket while he was involved in cricket and rugby.
The couple spent a year with the Tawhero club before switching to Castlecliff.
Grant has continued her passion for golf, although it will be a couple of months before she swing the iron again as she goes in for a partial knee replacement procedure on Thursday.
After recovering from that, she will get back to the greens at Castlecliff, where work to prevent trees leaching nutrients from the soil has made conditions even better for her regular Tuesday and Saturday rounds.
"It's improving as good as it's been," Grant said.
"It's been a long road. They've taken a lot of the trees out and now that we've got fairway watering, it will improve."
