Consistency has been an extra club in the bag of Electrinet Park member Ian Loffler, who last month shot a 4-under 68 and has worked his way down to a 1-handicap on his home course. He is pictured on the first tee at Patutahi's Christmas tournament late last year. Photo / Chris Taewa
Craig Palmer trudged off the first green shaking his head after missing a short par putt in Saturday’s club competition.
Seventeen holes and five birdies later, the 1-handicapper signed for a career-best 4-under 68.
“I’ve never seen him putt so well ... I’ve never seen him play so well,” mate Ross Morley said.
That missed putt was a rush job. Palmer was in a group of five and decided to putt out, rather than mark his ball.
Morley said from there it was “pretty much flawless golf”, describing Palmer as “a metronome”.
With his distances dialled in, Palmer was going for pins, rather than just greens, and his putter could have welded steel.
Palmer made just the one birdie - on the seventh hole - in a front nine of even-par 36.
But the aviary roof was torn off with cyclonic ferocity on the back nine. He made birdies from the 12th to the 15th, including the rare feat of going birdie-birdie-birdie through “the Triangle”, and went close to a fifth in a row on the 16th.
“He was just a machine,” Morley said.
It is back to school for teacher Keith Marshall, but he has returned on a high after a personal best performance last Thursday.
The smooth-swinging Marshall won the Division 1 men’s Stableford with 77-12-65, for 43 points.
The Thursday scoring was warm, with Jak Rowe second on 41 points and John Pittar winning Division 2 with 41.
SUNDAY - Men’s Stableford, Division 1: D. Bullivant 38, C. Carmody 37, S. Harbottle 37, P. Butler 37.
Division 2: K. Travers 41, G. Marchbank 37, J. Finch 36, N. Jones 36.
Twos: S. Harbottle, J. Leaf.
Nearest to pin: K. Travers (hole-in-one on 6).
SATURDAY - Men’s Stableford, Division 1: C. Palmer 41, S. Francks 38, J. Jenner 38, S. Jeune 37.
Division 2: B. Croskery 39, K. Goldsmith 38, J. Adams 38, J. Kerekere 36.
Twos: M. Henwood, V. Richardson.
Nearest to pin: V. Richardson.
THURSDAY (Jan 29) - Men’s Stableford, Division 1: K. Marshall 43, J. Rowe 41, P. Butler 38, A. Abrahams 38, S. Andreassen 37.
Division 2: J. Pittar 41, M. Smith 35, C. Poole 35.
Twos: D. Bush
Nearest to pin: V. Richardson.
WEDNESDAY (Jan 28) - Twilight Stableford, senior men’s division, front 9: J.Chambers 18.
Back 9: S. Francks 17.
Junior men’s division, front 9: K. Dodgshun 20, I. Tietjen.
Back 9: J. Partington 22, F. Tong 20.
Women’s division: J. Tietjen 20.
The eagles landed for two of Patutahi’s big hitters in Sunday’s net competition.
Neil Hansen sank a putt from the fringe of the green for a 3 on the par-5 first hole.
Eddie Brown Jnr bombed a drive on to the 274-metre par-4 third hole green and slotted the putt for 2.
Francis Tupara (71), Pete “Chopper” Summersby (69) and Adam Brodie (68) won their respective sections of the club net competition on Sunday.
Kennedy Sarich racked up 22 points in winning Division 2 of the Friday meat pack 9-hole Stableford.
SUNDAY - Women’s net: F. Tupara 71, D. Johnston 72, K. Sarich 73.
Men’s net, Division 1: P. Summersby 69, P. Johnston 69, Beau Toa 69, E. Brown Jr 69, S. Toa 70.
Division 2: A. Brodie 68, M. Smith 70, K. Dodgshun 71, J. Blair 72, C. Brown 73.
Eagles: E. Brown Jr, N. Hansen.
FRIDAY - Meat pack 9-hole Stableford, Division 1: M. Smith 21, R. Mottart 20, D. Pohatu 20, T. Brodie 18, A. Nimmo 18, A. Blakeman 18, Beau Toa 18.
Division 2: K. Sarich 22, M. Forrest 21, G. Holland 21, Chick Bridge 20, M. Brodie 20, J. Tietjen 19, D. Somerton 19.
COMING UP: SATURDAY, Feb 14: Patutahi open opening day tournament, Canadian mixed pairs and men’s sections, 11am tee-off, inquiries to George Brown 0273709869 or horiboy1@xtra.co.nz; SATURDAY, Feb 21: Patutahi women’s open and Round 1 of women’s interclub pennants, 10am tee-off, entries to Kennedy Sarich.
Kino White staved off a late fightback to win the Agnes Attwood Cup women’s handicap matchplay final.
White, giving 12 shots, surged to 3-up after nine holes in the title decider against Tai Aramakutu, and looked set for a comfortable win at dormie-4 ahead.
But Aramakutu wasn’t about to raise the white flag and won the next three holes.
A half on the 18th was enough for White to get across the line.
In the semi-finals, White beat Min Vette 4 and 3 while Aramakutu defeated Jacque Akuhata-Nickerson on the 18th.
Rocky Monika’s first 18-hole round of 2026 was one to remember.
Monika, who joined the Park last year, had three birdies - two of those on the trot - in powering to victory in the men’s Stableford on Sunday with 85-21-64, for 44 points.
Ian Loffler was on a 6-handicap when he shot 77 off the blue tees on December 28. He’s now on a 1, courtesy of scores such as a 4-under 68 on January 7, and last Thursday he won Division 1 of the Novus Glass Twilight Stableford with 3-under 33-1-32, for 22 points.
Josh Adams went one better than that in winning Division 2 with 38-7-31, for 23.
Scratch-handicapper Matt Henwood’s 34 off the stick wasn’t in the Stableford hunt, but his birdie on the 16th earned him $148 as it was the Birdie Board hole.
SUNDAY - Men’s Stableford: R. Monika 44, H. Tupara 40, S. Frame 38, D. Gregory 38.
Twos: R. Monika, J. Hayes, M. Christophers, L. Hayes.
Nearest the pin: M. Christophers.
Long drive: C. Christophers.
THURSDAY (Jan 29) - Novus Glass Twilight Stableford, Division 1: I. Loffler 22.
Division 2: J. Adams 23, W. Muir 21.
Men’s long drive: J. Adams.
Women’s long drive: J. Rolls.
Nearest the pin: D. Rameka.
Birdie board: M. Henwood.
Monkey on the back: J. Rolls.
SUNDAY (Jan 25) - Men’s net: J. Witika 71, A. Nanai 71, M. Henwood 72.
Nearest the pin: D. Mauheni.
Long drive: D. Pilitati.
Twos: J. Hayes.
Handicap golf on Sunday was a winning warm-up for Kahu Tamanui and Toni Rutene as the club looks to this weekend’s open opening day.
Tamanui won the men’s Stableford with 94-24-70, for 36 points.
Rutene’s women’s Stableford-winning 90-18-72, for 36, was highlighted by a two on the 16th hole.
SUNDAY - Men’s Stableford: K. Tamanui 36, Tom Smith 35, Larry Green 34.
Women’s Stableford: T. Rutene 36, E. Wynyard 36, V. Grace 36.
Twos: T. Smith, T. Rutene.
COMING UP: SATURDAY: Waikohu open opening day, Canadian mixed pars and men’s sections, cup of tea 10am, tee-off 11am.
Putahi Morris is on a roll.
He added the Round 4 honours to his Round 3 triumph in the men’s Summer Cup on Sunday.
Morris’s 91-28-63, for 39 points, headed off Daryl Goldsmith (36) and Willie Mannering (36).
Hiria McClutchie’s 32 points was good enough to win Round 2 of the women’s Summer Cup.
SUNDAY - Men’s Summer Cup, Round 4, Stableford: Putahi Morris 91-28-63, 39; D. Goldsmith 87-21-66, 36; W. Mannering 89-22-67, 35.
Women’s Summer Cup, Round 2, Stableford: H. McClutchie 90-18-72, 32; I. Ngarimu 98-24-74, 30.
Twos: P. Savage, W. Mannering.
BJ Sidney’s best round in over a year topped the Stableford on Sunday.
Sidney fired 4-over 72-8-64, for 40 points, for a comfortable victory - four points clear of Trent Higgs.
SUNDAY - Stableford: BJ Sidney 40, T. Higgs 36, J. Hale 35, J. Sheridan 31, R. Pomana 30.
Approach: M. Yates.
Twos: J. Hale.