KEY POINTS:
The first time Bob Glading received a gong, it was presented by one of this country's most famous soldiers.
It was just after World War II, and Governor-General Bernard Freyberg was awarding Navy pilot Glading the Distinguished Service Cross.
He wanted to know if Glading was the golfer
and was quickly told by Lady Freyberg: "Of course he's the golfer."
The lean 86-year-old Glading who greets you at his Milford unit is the man who flew bravely against the enemy in a war which makes less sense to him now. It was a fight for freedom at the time, but he now wonders whether it was more about defending the interests of industrialists.
What you find with Bob Glading is a refreshing interest in telling his truth.
For a moment, Bob joins his wife of 60 years, Margaret, in gazing at the high-tech TV which dominates their living room.
"Why is our tennis in a terrible state?" asks Bob, as they watch the Auckland women's tournament.
There is a faded graphic on the wall of Bob's late brother Ray, a successful jockey many moons ago. We eat a lovely and traditional afternoon tea. It's past and present, all mixed up in one.
Glading received his second gong - membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit, in the New Year's honours list - for his remarkable services to golf, 60 years after he won consecutive New Zealand Opens.
Without much fuss, he reveals a glimpse of the war service which cut short his dreams of becoming a golf professional in America.
He was in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, flying Corsairs, the renowned American plane which was initially dangerous to land on aircraft carriers.
He flew about 50 operations, in Norway then the Pacific, often on strafing missions against Japanese targets.
"While you are scared when they are firing at you, you basically feel it is not going to happen to you. The DSC wasn't for any heroics but because I was lucky enough to survive," he says.
Budding club professional Bob was 17 when he met 15-year-old Margaret at the St Andrews golf course in Hamilton. Margaret's family were greenkeepers and caterers. Bob and Margaret corresponded through the war without being sure they would marry.
They went on to have three children in a family where golf was a dominant theme.
The game had landed in Glading's life when he was growing up in Lower Hutt. His father, a builder, gambled everything away on horses. The Glading brothers discovered that one and sixpence could be earned as caddies at the Hutt course, and soon Bob was hooked.
His first New Zealand open win, at Manawatu in 1946, remains the highlight of his career.
"I'd wake up in bed at night sometimes and think, 'I'm the open champion'," he says.
But this is a man who has lived with the times rather than by looking back at them. Caddy, coach, club maker - you name it, Bob Glading has done it. He writes golf magazine columns to this day, has been a TV commentator, and is on the board of the golfing charity First Tee in a career which has included playing for New Zealand and winning a string of titles around the country.
His friends include golfing greats such as South Africans Gary Player and the late Bobby Locke, Australian Peter Thomson and Bob Charles.
Glading remains as vibrant and interesting about the game as ever.
He met Michael Campbell briefly last year and suggested the major winner slow down his swing.
"I believe he gets a bit out of tempo. I thought he'd think, 'Silly old bugger' but he said that funnily enough, that was what he was working on."
You might think that Glading is trapped by history when he nominates Locke as golf's undisputed putting genius. Ask him who has the greatest swing, though.
"I'd say Stuart Appleby without hesitation. If I had a young fellow coming up I'd make him look at videos of that swing every day of his life."
Glading, who plays twice a week and shoots in the low 80s, doesn't just keep searching for golfing highs on behalf of others.
He is about to leave the North Shore club for Gulf Harbour because he rates it among the best in the land.
Family members get frustrated with Glading's frustrations on the course.
They remind him that he is 86, says Margaret.
Glading says: "About 200 yards with a bit of run is all I get now. I try not to play like an old man and get a bit of action through the hitting area. But it still doesn't go as far as it should.
"I say to myself, I mustn't get irritated. At least I'm still on the grass, not underneath it."
Bob Glading - A career in golf
1932 Caddied at the New Zealand Open in Heretaunga. The game was played by doctors, solicitors, professional people. After the war golf exploded and became everyman's game.
1946 Won the New Zealand Open as an amateur at Manawatu in a playoff, using Persimmon woods he whittled himself. A canteen couldn't be found so his cutlery prize was wrapped in paper. "I celebrated by getting the train that night and going second class back to Hamilton to work the next day." Retained the title in New Plymouth the next year.
1952 Entered in the British Open, but the Admiralty sent Bob to join aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable at Malta. His other big disappointment - failing to keep any of the old clubs he made.
1999 His only hole in one, on the eighth at Muriwai. "I estimate it was my 13,000th attempt. Did it with a yellow ball, I much prefer them. They show up so well. But it's hard to get good quality ones anymore." Bob had just written a column severely criticising the 8th because of its featureless green.
2004 A dream is fulfilled, playing 81 holes over three days at Augusta, home of the Masters.
Still to come
His last great golfing adventure overseas. A return to the Dubai Desert Classic in February to watch Tiger Woods.
