Off the tee: Pitching for players

Getting more young women into golf will be one of the targets for Auckland's new junior golf development manager, Reuben Inglis.

Eight of the managers have been appointed around the country under the aegis of the AMP New Zealand Golf Foundation and district golf associations.

Their brief will be to develop golf for boys and girls in schools and clubs, increase junior club members and deliver programmes developed by the Golf Foundation.

"This will create a clear golfing pathway for young people from Kiwi Golf in primary schools to representative honours," the junior golf manager for NZ Golf, Brad Edwards, says.

"Golf is the No 1 participation sport in New Zealand with more than 500,000 people playing annually.

"But there is a relatively low number of young people playing golf as a percentage of our total participation, and even fewer are members of a golf club."

Inglis, at 24 the youngest of the new managers and a Northland representative since his schooldays at Kerikeri High School, notes that only one per cent of all golfers are women under 19.

"We're really noticing it now when there is a dwindling base from which our representative golfers are coming.

"You've got to get them early and in numbers because inevitably a lot drift away from the game when boys and other attractions come along. You need to have a much bigger base so there are more of them coming back to the game.

"One essential is making clubs more junior friendly. Some are daunting to youngsters."

Inglis' idea is to target two or three clubs at a time and liaise with schools in that area. Where clubs have good junior programmes in place, he will act as a consultant and provide support and material.

"There are more Tiger Woods sitting there," he says. "It's a matter of finding them."

Auckland presents rather different problems from the rest of the country. Particularly at city clubs, there is intense pressure on tee times and juniors can get squeezed out.

"Some clubs have a lower age limit of 10 or 12. But the Tigers were on single-figure handicaps at that age. I was playing rep golf when I was 13, but I could jump on to the course at any stage."

Inglis, who will also be employed by the Auckland Golf Association to manage its golf academy, completed a sports science course at Waikato Polytechnic and has worked in the golf wholesale and retail industry. He expects to start his new role in a couple of weeks.

He played in the Northland senior team against North Harbour last month, but has yet to find out whether he will have the time to continue his representative career.

Northland has appointed Denise Pilbrow as its junior development manager.

A former representative golfer, she has already completed 12 months in a similar role for the association.

Waikato's choice is Lois Jones, a representative hockey and golf player. A school teacher, she has been heavily involved in junior programmes at the Lochiel Golf Club.

Other North Island appointments include Australasian touring professional and former New Zealand representative Mark Brown in Wellington and current US PGA professional Steve Atkins in Taranaki.

* * *

As Keith Quinn might say, rugby was the winner when the Cambridge Masters was played over 36 holes last Sunday.

Richard Fry, an Auckland rugby representative in the early 80s and now playing out of Titirangi Golf Club, won with a 36-hole total of 144.

Arthur Parkin, a former national hockey player now at the Maungakiekie Golf Club, was second on 146 after losing a ball on the last hole.

Parkin will be back to take on the youngsters at Cambridge this weekend for the Cambridge Classic. Lowest handicappers in the field of 86 are Dean Sipson (Mt Maunganui) and Doug Holloway (Maraenui).

* * *

West Auckland professional Terry Leech will revive some memories of his youth when he joins the Taupo Golf Club's 75th anniversary celebrations at the end of the month.

Leech joined the club in the early 1950s when his father moved from Whangarei to be greenkeeper on the Tauhara course, which had recently been extended to 18 holes.

The youngster went on to be one of the club's most successful players, winning a national foursomes title with Don Boone in 1964 and representing New Zealand at the Commonwealth tournament in Australia in 1963.

He turned professional in 1971 and still plays in seniors tournaments in Australia when he is not selling clubs and coaching at Henderson's Full Swing Golf Centre.

The idea of a golf club was conceived by Mr. V. T. Fail soon after he arrived in Taupo in 1928.

It was not until 1941 that the club became affiliated to the NZ Golf Association and in 1946 a set of rules and a constitution were drawn up and the club became incorporated.

A second nine holes were opened in October 1954. The layout was altered and the first hole (now the 14th) and clubhouse were moved further along Tauhara Rd. The old clubhouse burnt down and was rebuilt and is currently occupied by the Taupo Bridge Club.

In 1965 Taupo had grown into a substantial residential area and tourism was booming. The club had to choose between closing their membership and building a new course. The Centennial course was constructed and at the same time a new clubhouse in between the two courses was built. The new course and clubhouse were officially opened in September 1973.

Next year the national amateur championship will be staged at the club for the second time - Australian Lester Peterson won the title there in 1989.