Martinborough golf by a hank – of wool

Baabraa Trophy handover – from (left) Simon Buckley, president of Ekatahuna, to captain of Martinborough, Andy Morison.

We start at the end of the month, when the annual Baabraa Trophy between Martinborough and

Eketahuna was fought out on a glorious Sunday in Martinborough. A field of 70 played a stableford round and the average stableford points for the two clubs were calculated.

Eketahuna scored an average 30.38 and Martinborough 31.27. 

The individual winners on the day were for the ladies Emily Loughlin (Martinborough) on 38 points and the men on a countback Lachie Duffy (Eketahuna) on 39 points. It should be noted Lachie is a junior and looks like one to watch.

Otherwise it was a really busy month for the club with a number of major competitions, the first being the mens 54 and 36-hole open which was held on the 5 – 6 October. There was a good turn-out from local clubs and those further afield and although the weather forecast wasn’t looking great, both days turned out good for golf. 

Amazing prizes were available for the gross and nets for each competition with the major prizes going to:

54 holes best gross – Perry Hayman from Judgeford with 211;

54 holes best net – Brent Smallbone from Judgeford with 217;

36 holes best gross – Russell Kirk from Redwood Park (Auckland) with 164;

36 holes best net – Logan Beetham from Judgeford with 142;

Well done to all winners and thanks to those who travelled to participate.

The following weekend saw the ever popular Lamb and Chardonnay tournament with 33 teams of four playing ambrose. Although the forecast was for heavy showers these mainly avoided the golf course until the latter part of the round. This year the event was sponsored by Poppies of Martinborough and the prizes were exceptional with 11 teams receiving meat packs containing lamb _ generously donated _ and Poppies Chardonnay.

The winning team on a net 53.25 was Robbie Robinson, Taylor Dewis, Tom De Groen (Martinborough) and Aaron Donges (Hutt Park). Every tournament has to have someone in last place. This year the team of Jane Fanselow-Price, Lizzie Thomson, Marion McKenzie and Jenny Toswill were the unfortunates, so to lessen the blow they each received a $100 voucher from Cool Change Bar and Eatery – a big thank you to Jimmy for the donation.

The clubhouse is nearing completion and thanks to the boys at Holmes Construction it is looking to be completed ahead of schedule. Although the building will be completed and Holmes Construction will be leaving, there is still much to do to obtain sign-off from the council and before we can officially open the doors. 

It is hoped to give members and sponsors an opportunity to view the completed building and see what needs to be done to get those doors ajar. Fundraising and helping hands will be needed.

As always, keep up to date on all club news and clubhouse progress on our Facebook page and website: martinboroughgolfclub.co.nz