Popgun pain for Old Hickory battlers

The lack of regular golf recently showed as our Old Hickory team finished last at the latest round of the inter-club competition at Nelson on Thursday (Sept 8).

With most of our team more used to wielding rakes and shovels than clubs as we focus of cleaning up after the devastating floods, it was not unsurprisingly that our golf was a bit rusty. 

In calm conditions on a Nelson course still recovering from the floods, captain Ian Hanford and Peter Watson led our scoring with 33 stableford points each. Warren Carey (32) and Mike Murphy (31) were our other counting scores, while Barry Rhodes (30) and Richard Pearson (26) found the going a bit tougher.

Our team score of 129 was well short of the mark on a day of generally good scoring.

Nelson took full advantage of local knowledge to win the shield with an impressive 152 points, led by 39 stablefords from Tony Rouse and 38 each from Paul Dowers and Robin Knight.

Takaka was second on 147, while Totaradale finished third on 143 in large to part due to a game-high 41 points from Dennis Hall.

Motueka was fourth on 141 and they were followed by Greenacres (138) and Tasman (136), with Waahi Taakaro taking home the popgun.

The next round is on October 6 at Motueka.