Cries of timber have been ringing out from the Electrinet Gisborne Park course in the wake of the recent storm and Gisborne District Council closing the course due to dangerous trees. A large number of trees have been felled and plenty more are due for the chop. The course has reopened and is temporarily reduced to nine holes.
Photo / Chris Taewa
Cries of timber have been ringing out from the Electrinet Gisborne Park course in the wake of the recent storm and Gisborne District Council closing the course due to dangerous trees. A large number of trees have been felled and plenty more are due for the chop. The course has reopened and is temporarily reduced to nine holes.
Photo / Chris Taewa
Poverty Bay
A new name has emerged at the top end of the Poverty Bay golfing ranks and he has the senior club championships in his sights.
South African Rob Maruszewski announced himself competitively on Sunday in winning the Division 1 men’s stableford with 2-under par 70-0-70, for 38 points.
His round featured five birdies and was his third sub-par score since becoming an 18-hole member recently.
The 38-year-old has been living here for a couple of years, shifting from Pretoria to Gisborne where he manages the Captain Cook Motor Lodge on Awapuni Rd.
He played a lot of his golf in South Africa at the Centurion Country Club in the Gauteng province.
A talented golfer in his younger years, he took a year off to pursue a pro career but, in his own words, “it didn’t pan out”.
His job at Captain Cook limited his golf to nine holes in the morning, but a couple of months ago he decided to convert to 18 and in the five rounds he has had since early May he has broken par three times, including a 3-under 69.
Twos: K. Marshall, V. Richardson, M. Stewart, A. Jefferd, A. Hayward.
Approach: A. Hayward.
Gay Young is no stranger to silverware at her home Poverty Bay Golf Club. She has won several trophies multiple times and recently added a seventh AB & J Trophy since 2004 to that list at the 27-hole bronze and silver women's tournament. Young produced her best round in over four years - 86 - for the opening 18 holes but fell away with 52 in the final nine. Her 138 total, however, comfortably won the overall gross.
Electrinet Park
The Electrinet Park course has reopened but only for nine holes in the wake of recent storm damage.
A large number of trees fell during the storm and more have been chopped down over the past couple of weeks.
Gisborne District Council, from which the park club leases the land, closed the course because of dangerous trees.
It reopened at the weekend but the club faces a huge job of knocking down marked trees before it will be extended back to 18 holes.
Club captain Mike Christophers said about 15 trees fell in the storm and 15 more were cut down last week. He estimated another 80 were to go and it could be several months before it was operating at full capacity again.
Meanwhile, a composite nine-hole course has been set up for players and has been given the green light by NZ Golf when it comes to handicapping.
The course comprises (in order) the 10th, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 14th, 15th and 18th holes. The first nine is off standard tees; the second nine features a mixture of different tees.
Members have been advised that “etiquette is paramount” when playing this reduced course and that “on-course players have priority”.
The Te Kanawa Cup men’s pairs will resume on August 4, with round 2 of the Te K and round 1 of the Fletcher Cup subsidiary.
Specialist Gerry Maude once again proved too good for the 10-man field in the Wednesday winter shootout final last week.
Maude won the title and moolah that goes with it for the fourth time - Andy Nimmo summing the task of defeating Maude succinctly in his Patutahi Golf Club Facebook page report . . . “hard to beat”.
A four-net-two on the ninth hole easily saw off George Brown’s five-net-four as the last two standing.
Pete “Chopper” Summersby was third.
Recently crowned McKeague Cup women’s matchplay champion Abbie Davis was a rose among the thorns in the Friday meat pack 9-hole stableford.
She won the junior division with 21 points, then followed that up with victory in the women’s 18-hole club stableford on Sunday with 35 points.
Wairoa’s Pete Jelbert had a productive visit to Māhia on Sunday.
While he had to settle for third behind Dave Waihaki (36) and Bruce Maher (35) in the men’s stableford, he did win the approach and converted his tee shot for a two.
FRIDAY - 9-hole stableford: C. Pitman 22, B. Maher 19, Wayne “Cowboy” Wesche 18.
SUNDAY - Men’s stableford: D. Waihaki 36, B. Maher 35, P. Jelbert 34.
