“Like father, like son” is a fitting adage when it comes to the golfing careers of Mike and Kim Travers.
Kim has made a habit of following in the fairway footsteps of his dad, and this emulation peaked at the Poverty Bay course on Sunday with his first hole-in-one.
Kim,70, knocked off a feat “I never thought I’d ever get” on the Awapuni Links’ 112-metre sixth hole at the back end of his weekly round as part of what is known as “the Sunday School”.
It was the same hole Mike got his ace on in February, 2002, albeit with a different weapon of choice.
Seven-iron did the job for Mike; a 5-hybrid continued a Travers tradition for Kim.
Nearly 24 years after Mike Travers (pictured right) produced the perfect shot at Poverty Bay Golf Club's sixth hole, his son Kim repeated the ace effort - continuing a tradition of emulating his dad's successes. Alongside Mike is Olympian Grant Bramwell, whose pharmacy used to give a pair of Serengeti sunglasses to players who made a hole-in-one on that hole. Photo / Paul Rickard
From there, father of four Kim, who co-owns The Little Hair Shop city centre hairdressing salon with wife Dizz, went about repeating his father’s successes.
Mike won the coveted men’s 19-hole shootout. So did Kim,
Mike won the Johnny Jackson veteran men’s matchplay crown. So did Kim (possibly the only father and son to have done it).
Mike won the junior men’s club championship in 1989. So did Kim ... in 2021.
Kim’s ace could fall into the “it ain’t how, it’s how many” category.
The 22-handicapper - he has been as low as 13 over the years - said he hit his hybrid “as hard as I could”.
His ball flew low, landed short of the front bunker, bounced over it into a low section before the green, reappeared, rolled up and into the hole.
He raised his arms in the air as his playing buddies and a group of women on the neighbouring ninth hole cheered.
“It was quite an audience. Everyone was as happy as I was.”
The 1 gave him five Stableford points for the hole and he went on to shoot 89-22-67, for 41 points (having started on the 10th hole), which fittingly won him Division 2 of the pro’s competition and topped the Sunday School.
