GOLF: Success after 35 years . . .

Anendra Singh
When Elizabeth Bell walked up the driveway to her Havelock North home with a bunch of flowers in her hand, her husband, Robin, thought she had won a raffle at the Hastings Golf Club.
"I said I'd won a tournament and we just looked at each other," the elegant 65-year-old says in her English accent.
Bell, a 30 handicapper, on November 9 won the 18-hole Cinema Gold and Skywards Duty Free-sponsored 18-hole stableford tournament - her only victory in a sponsored tournament in her 31 years as a member of the Hastings club.
She carded a nett 70 round and 40 stableford points, collecting Freedom Air tickets for two to any of the airline's destinations in Australia or Fiji via Palmerston North with $500 to spend.
Sandra O'Sullivan was second with 39 points in the field of 112 players.
"It proves that the handicap system works and everyone can have an enjoyable day, thanks to the sponsors. I haven't decided where we're going for holidays next winter but I've never been to Fiji before and I hear it's beautiful there," Bell says.
This month she collected the Elsie Kirkley Salverfor the best nett aggregate score from the three qualifying rounds of club championships in all divisions at her club and also the Molly Longton Memorial Trophy for the best aggregate in two out of three qualifying rounds in the junior championship.
Originally from London, Bell moved to Auckland in 1965 to work in reservations for former airline company BOAC. Two years later she married Robin before moving to Maraekakaho as farmers. They have since retired.
To be hovering around the 30 handicap mark after as many years of playing is a testimony in itself to Bell's golfing prowess so when a golf referees' course came up almost a decade ago at she grabbed the opportunity and passed.
"I'm never going to be good in golf so I might as well accept that. People often say don't you find the long hours on the course tiring and I say it beats housework any day.
It's time consuming but I love it," she says, praising retired farmer Robin for his support as she went to Wellington in December 2003 to sit a New Zealand Golf-sanctioned three-day Royal and Ancient Advanced Rules Seminar.
Three other Bay referees, John McKinnon, Judith Gimblett, both of Hastings club, and Moreen Collins, of Maraenui Golf Club, also attended the course which R and A committee chairman Michael Brown and secretary David Rickman, both of Scotland, conducted.
"I still remember how David stood up, saying there are two types of referees - those who have made mistakes and those who are about to. It was most terrific," Bell says.
The four of them passed their exams and today McKinnon is the president of the Hawke's Bay Golf Association and Bell its vice-president.
Bell also believes there are two sorts of refs - one who walks with players and keeps scores and the other is the zone official who has an area to cover.
She mostly officiates in the New Zealand men's Under-23 championships held at Hastings club and had great fun last year with the under-19 girls.
"We don't go out looking for trouble. If someone is about to make an infringement then I will remind him or her, depending on what it is.
"The young players' language can be a bit lurid when they get worked up as they are not all like Tiger Woods. But they are getting better."
If Bell has any regrets about golf, it's not having more girls swinging clubs on the fairway.