I was fortunate enough today to get a second crack at NSW. I was surprised to be asked, when checking in at the pro-shop, if I wanted to play in that day’s competition. Since the other three in my group were competing, I decided to do so as well. I was playing with Michael, a friend of Terry, an Adelaide based air traffic controller who is a friend of James, also based in Adelaide, who I played a couple of games with nearly ten years ago.
The weather, as it has been all week, was simply beautiful and, it transpired, the company was a match. I played pretty well. My score of 26 stableford points was 7 behind the winning score and I couldn’t have scored fewer and was the same as Michael achieved. I hit the ball well pretty much all the way round and only a couple of misread putts prevented me competing. Most importantly, however, my first impressions of NSW were confirmed. By the end of this trip I may have played a better course or two. I won’t have played a more beautiful or thrilling one.
John, Michael and Joel, today’s playing partners
After our game Michael and I had a beer with John, one of the other two players in our group, before sitting down to lunch. Michael, it turns out, is a wine buff. People think I’m a wine buff but this man is serious. He has a cellar with 9000 bottles. It was my goof=d fortune that the NSW GC wine list has some serious wines on it and also that Michael wanted to show a couple to me. With (very good) steak and chips we tried a very Burgundian Chardonnay, before enjoying a 2004 Penfolds St Henri. The Chardonnay was lovely and improved in the glass but the red was simply delicious. 2004 was, apparently, a good year in South Australia and the wine perfectly accompanied the steak, before providing great pleasure as we finished it.
Before I knew it it was 5pm and time to head back. As I set off from the clubhouse, an elderly couple who had been introduced to me in the clubhouse (he had played cricket in Neacstle upon Tyne for an NSW representative side in 1959) offered me a lift to a bus stop. I continue to be surprised by just how generous Australians are.
A Golfing Sabbatical in Australia 