Golf: Fun and rivalry in classic

Rotorua brothers Brian (left) and Tim Erskine-Shaw are long term members of the Lake View Golf Club.

Having fun and a bit of friendly rivalry is a key ingredient for playing golf with the Erskine-Shaw brothers Brian and Tim.

The pair were two of more than 140 competitors taking part in the annual UDC Lake View Golf Classic.

Brian the elder of the siblings who has been a member of the club for 30 years has competed in all of the classics since its inception in the early 1990s.

His brother Tim has been a member for 25 years and said it was a special tournament. In fact it's that special the brothers' company Erskine-Shaw Accountants help sponsor the event.

"Well it's the atmosphere, it's a relaxed club, there are a lot of members and we get to play early in the morning."

Brian said it normally took about two-and-a-half hours to play a round of golf.

Normally the pair also have their third brother Chris competing against them but he had another commitment.

Although Tim is the youngest, he also has the best handicap 13, with Brian and and Chris on 16 and 18 respectively.

Despite ideal playing conditions Brian said he didn't have a great first round.

"Today I shot my worst round ever. I'm not telling you [what it was]. I was under 100. But [the next round] we're going to blow it away," Brian said.

With the loser having to shout the beers it was Brian who had to dig deep into his pocket but at least he could help share in the reward.

"It cost me this time but I still get to have a drink as well. But it usually balances itself out when it comes to buying the rounds."

Each year the tournament appeared to be bigger and better, said club president Murray Donaldson.

"I can only put it down to the fact, to my mind you know how good your tournament is this year by how many come back next year.

"So we had 128 in the field last year and 144 this year and we could have filled it to 160. We had to turn people away."

Donaldson said the 36-hole, two-day event was open to all handicaps.

"As long has you have an official handicap. We run divisions so prizes are given out on handicaps."

The president said the course was a "thinking man's course".

"It's a golf course where if instead of being a big hitter, if you're a thinker you could do a hell of a lot worse."

The Erskine-Shaw brothers said they kept on coming back to the tournament because they always had a lot of fun and enjoyed spending time together.

"That's one of the reasons we started playing yearly, when we had young children, they had sport to do on Saturday afternoon," Tim said.

"So we would come up [here] early and even though the children are grown up now. The children were also introduced to [golf] and Brian's daughter Deborah ended up representing Bay of Plenty."