Me and Tiger

 

There are only three golf courses I can think of that both Tiger Woods and I have played.  One is Pinehurst #2 which I played in the mid-90s on a trip to the Carolinas and which hosted the 1999 and 2005 US Opens.  The 1999 edition was won by Payne Stewart a few months before he died in a plane crash, and the 2005 Championship was taken home by New Zealand native Michael Campbell.  Another is Muirfield in Dublin, Ohio outside Columbus, which I got to play in a couple of media day outings around 2008 and 2009.  Actually birdied the 6^th hole there, a par four.  Tiger Woods has had some great moments there, famously chipping in on the 14^th  hole as he fist-pumped his way to Akron.  The third course that I have played golf in Tiger’s footsteps is the Waikanae Golf Club in Waikanae New Zealand.  It wasn’t until I was on the 5^th hole that I became aware of this information.

I walked into the golf shop at Waikanae on a Thursday afternoon around 3.  It was a mostly cloudy day, rain was forecast for the following day and the air already had a feel of precipitation.  The course is a short drive from the house we are renting for two nights on the west coast of the North Island, about 65 kilometres north of Wellington.  It’s in the community of Waikanae Beach, and it reminded me of beach communities I had been to in the Carolinas, with no high rises and tightly packed beach homes built into the rolling sandy landscape. I scoped out the actual beach after inquiring at the golf course about the greens fees, along with rental clubs and their policy of someone showing up looking like a backpacker from Germany wearing socks with sandals.  With an ominous forecast for Friday, Annie dropped me at the course then hit the beach with the kids.  

Unlike the rental set of clubs I had in Fiji, the set I got at Waikanae actually had matching irons, made by Nike, along with an off-brand sand wedge, a knock off of a Ping Anser putter and a Goldfern Oversize three wood and SuperHead five wood.  No driver.  No problem.  As I found out with the relics I played pretty well with in Fiji, it’s the Indian not the arrow. 

After securing 4 golf balls from the fish bowl on the golf shop counter for $9, I headed toward the first tee, which was open with no one in view down the fairway, always one of my favorite sights.  I forgot to grab some tees in the golf shop, so I gathered some up from the tee box and teed up the newly-acquired Srixon and grasped the three wood, feeling the unfamiliar feel of teeing off without a glove, since that’s one of the many golf-related items I didn’t bring on this trip.   I didn’t tee up the BANGERT ball (my personalized Titlest NXT Tour ball that is the only piece of golf equipment I brought with me) because I wasn’t all that confident of where it would be going due to the fact that I hadn’t played in the more than two weeks and I was playing with rental clubs.  With all that going on in my head, I managed to stripe the Srixon down the fairway, finishing its journey in the right center part of the tightly mown grass.  I was unsure of the distance because the discs in the middle of the fairway were set in meters, not yards, and I figured I was about 160 meters out, which translates to about 175 yards.  I put the BANGERT ball down and hit a six iron fat, leaving myself about 20 yards from the green.  I chipped long and two putted for an opening bogey.  Not a bad start all things considered.

I immediately had a good feel for Waikanae Golf Club and it only improved on the second tee as I looked around at the setting.  No houses in sight, gently rolling hills, some of which were covered with heather with some low-lying trees and shrubs. In the distance, mountains covered with pine trees, providing a dramatic backdrop to the serene setting.   

The second hole was about 183 meters which converts to about 200 yards so I took the five wood out, teed up the Srixon again and hit it pin-high about 10 yards to the right of the green.  I dropped the BANGERT ball, chipped long again and two-putted.  Behind me, I noticed a husband and wife already approaching the second tee.  That kept the BANGERT ball in my pocket as I tried to pick up the pace, and I paid the price. On the third tee,  I pushed my three-wood into the trees on the right, failed to extract myself from said woods in one shot, punched out into the fairway before launching a crisply-struck 6 iron onto the green from about 160 yards away.  I could see another couple in front of me leaving the green on the next hole, making me realize at some point I was probably going to be playing with them or the people nipping at my heels. 

The fourth hole was another decent-length par three of 180 meters and once again I hit a five wood pin-high about ten yards right of the green.  After taking a couple of pictures on my Iphone of the nice views, I put down the BANGERT ball and pitched it stone dead, inches from the hole.  I glanced behind me, disappointed that the couple tailing me missed my bit of brilliance.  I had to wait some on the next tee to let the couple in front of me to put enough distance between us, which was difficult to accurately judge considering I had never played the course before.  That scenario played out again after I hit my tee shot a safe distance short of them, as they had to wait on a twosome to complete their efforts on the green before they could hit their approach shots.  The man in the couple waiting in the fairway was just over the crest of a hill and he was clearly there to let me know that his wife still had to hit her shot, as she was out of my view just over the rise in the fairway.  I could see her club come back and go through and see her ball head toward the green, just after I glanced behind me and saw the other couple waiting for me to hit.  After waiting a few moments to let the couple in front of me get safely out of the way while not wanting to hold up the pair behind me, I drew back the 5-wood and hit a surprisingly solid shot right down the middle, the ball landing what I thought might had been a bit too close to the couple I was trailing.  They showed no obvious sign of displeasure, playing out the hole, which I did as well a few moments later in six shots, one over the par of five for the hole as I missed the green on my approach. 

The couple in front of me had just hit their tee shots on 6 as I approached that tee box and I casually mentioned that I hoped that my shot on the previous fairway didn’t get too close to them.  The woman, probably in her late 60s said that it had actually gone past her.  Appropriately horrified, I apologized profusely, explaining I had never played the course before, was playing with rental clubs and that it was actually my first time playing golf in New Zealand.  That got me the conciliatory response that I was hoping for, and the man in the group, who looked to be quite a bit older than his female companion, invited me to join them.  After I hit another decent tee shot, I introduced myself to Roy and Valerie.  They were locals who were retired and she was wearing a shirt with the Waikanae Golf Club logo on it, so clearly they were regulars. 

I conversed mainly with Roy as we proceeded toward the green, and learned that he had been retired for 26 years after a career in civil engineering.  After some small talk about children, I asked Roy how old he was, figuring he was probably late 70s, and he told me 89.  I was stunned--other than some age spots on his skin, he certainly didn’t look or act like most people I know in their late 80s who are mostly dead.  He was walking at a good pace, carrying his own clubs and hitting the ball a decent distance.  He then shared with me how it came to be that Tiger Woods played this course. Steve Williams, a New Zealand native who caddied for Tiger for many years, was once a member of Waikanae and played there a lot.  As a favor to Steve, Tiger played in the New Zealand Open a few years back, which was played at a course not too far from Waikanae.  While in the area, Steve took Tiger to Waikanae and they played a round.  I asked what Tiger shot and Roy and Valerie didn’t know the answer to that.  I then recalled seeing a framed picture of Tiger in the Golf Shop, which I hadn’t paid much attention to when I first saw it.  Now it had a bit more significance.  

By now we had gotten to the 8^th tee.  It was a short par three, only 115 meters, but the green was on a table top, with dense bushes and trees behind it, and a deep gully in front of it.  Roy responded to my question by telling me the gully was dry and not a threat, so I pulled out the BANGERT ball, grabbed a 9 iron and made good contact with the ball.  It went right at the pin, landing on the front of the green about ten paces away from the hole.  Roy had pulled his tee shot well left of the green but not in trouble, while Valerie got a member’s break after hitting a mulligan which was a low liner that followed the contours of the gully and rolled onto the green.  My attempt at birdie was online but just short, so I headed to the tee, happy to have a bar, but somewhat sad that we were already at the 9^th hole, which would be my final one of the day.

The 9^th hole at Waikanae is a par five with some thick woods on the left and some thick heather on both sides of the fairway about 240 yards out, just as the fairway rose and disappeared over the hill.  I really wanted the BANGERT ball to make it out of New Zealand in my possession, to I hit a Black Diamond ball I bought in the Golf Shop, and hit a solid three wood down the left side, just short of the hit and the ball gobbling heather.  We couldn’t see the green from where we were short of the hill, but Roy helpfully explained that the hole was a dog leg to the left.  I figured a six iron would put me in good position for my approach to the green, but I pulled it some and it clattered around in the pines before coming to rest on some sandy ground covered in pine needles.  I had one or two tree branches about ten yards in front of me about 15 feet off the ground, but I figured I could navigate my way safely from there to the green, so out came the BANGERT ball.  The pitching wedge I pulled from the bag made solid contact and the ball landed on the green, about 25 feet left of the flag.  After giving a golfer’s head nod to the compliments on my shot from Roy and Valerie, I strolled to the green, two-putted for a par and shook hands with my new friends from New Zealand.  I hope to make more friends on the golf course in the coming weeks and months, as that’s where I’ve met some of my best friends in my life.