Where our editors ventured in compiling this issue
More women are taking up a club than ever and a new wave of groups is making sure they feel welcome when they do. Golf Fore Her is one of them. I spent a Sunday at Cronulla Golf Club, on Sydney’s southern beaches, at one of their events, a golf day aimed at women who’ve never set foot on a course or who’ve fallen away from it. Nearly 180 showed up. PGA pros and tour pros were out on the course, no pressure attached. The concept is simple: confidence isn’t something you need before you start; it’s something you build by showing up. By the end of the afternoon, that was exactly what you could see happening. – Remy Taylor
I never need an excuse to return to Queenstown. My sixth trip to the Kiwi adventure capital coincided with this year’s New Zealand Open and gave me the chance to play Millbrook’s Championship routing the morning after Daniel Hillier’s victory. Despite being just the second day after the end of summer, it was a four-layer morning as a dusting of snow coated the mountaintops. It mattered not. I’ve seen Queenstown in all four seasons (we once had a tee-time at Jack’s Point cancelled due to snow) and it truly is a place for all four. My real problem at Millbrook? A shortage of ammunition. I was using hire clubs and quickly began to run out of balls. I nursed my last pill through the final four holes, including finding the green on the water-ringed, par-3 closer. That I went on to three-putt felt entirely trivial in comparison. – Steve Keipert
One of the great joys of this game is that you never quite know who you’ll bump into on the first tee. Golf, it seems, is everybody’s second sport, if it’s not already their first.
During my recent trip to New Zealand for the Lexus Ultimate Golf New Zealand Experience [see page 108], I was in the Te Arai Links clubhouse when a long-haired chap walked in sporting a Tara Iti caddie bib. The Aussie accent immediately pricked my ears. “I think I know that guy!” I told my playing partners.
When someone nearby asked “Paps” if he wanted anything, the penny immediately dropped. It was former Melbourne Storm NRL superstar Ryan Papenhuyzen, and he’d just finished a shift at neighbouring Tara Iti. I’d heard on the grapevine the former NRL speedster had turned his talents to looping, but I’d assumed it was nothing more than an occasional carry on tour for his good mate Daniel Gale.
Turns out his caddie apprenticeship has quickly become a full-time pursuit. Most of his year is spent on the bag for Aussie pro Gale, but during a break in Gale’s schedule due to the conflict in Iran, Papenhuyzen headed across the ditch to Tara Iti to sharpen his craft.
“I played Tara Iti and enquired that if Dubai (the Middle East swing on the DP World Tour’s secondary circuit) didn’t go ahead, would I be able to come over and caddie just for members, or just random people who rock up to play? And they said yes,” he said. “I had a bit of imposter syndrome early. I’m aware I’m not the perfect caddie, but I’m ‘me’ as a caddie and I think that’s valuable to some people.”
The former Australian and New South Wales star is now a gun for hire.
“The majority of the year will be with ‘Galey’, but if I have a few gaps here and there, I’m open to working with other people and I’ve put that out there if people need a caddie for a week.”
Hmmm… my club championships are coming up soon, Paps!
