Playing golf to help the aged

The members flocked to the club on Friday for the ‘100 Club’ draw and the delectable supper of butternut soup, roast chicken and vegetables with a Malva Pudding to finish off with.

The man on a hot streak at the moment is Charles Porrill, whose number was drawn again to win the big prize with the “when am I ever going to win” Stuart Hanlon taking the consolation prize. There are a number of functions taking place at the club over the next couple of weeks, so should you be looking for a venue to host a function, why not give the club a visit.

The golfers turned up on Saturday to support the Ladysmith Association for the Aged (Lafta) organisers in helping to raise funds for the care and wellbeing of the elderly.

A fair amount of our golfers can relate to this worthy cause, as we are getting there ourselves (some sooner than others) and appreciate that there are people and organisations that really care.

The Association for the Aged in Ladysmith has over the years and still does an outstanding job in providing care and support for the elderly and frail members of our town who don’t always have the love and support of family. It was fantastic to have a number of our senior citizens out and about at the club, enjoying themselves, helping with the day and showing up some of the youngsters with their zeal for life.

There were a number of visitors – from Mt Edgecombe, Umhlali, Glencoe, Dundee, Estcourt and Jo’burg – who were quite impressed with the condition of the course, as well as the facilities the club had to offer.

They contested the day with the rest of the field, where the golf turned out to be a hotly contested affair, with three pairings all scoring 47 points and tying for first place.

There are a number of sayings or proverbs that apply to aging, such as – “age is a case of mind over matter; if it matters, you’ve probably forgotten”, or “youth is a gift, but old age is a work of art”, etc. But the two that really define this week’s winners and two of our nearly senior citizens, Dave Salmond and Vernon Sanders, are – “a man does not die from love, his liver or even old age, but from trying to perfect his game of golf”, or “age for me is like my golf score, a very large number”.

It is therefore quite fitting that they won this tournament in honour of the aged, proving once again that age is no barrier to what the human spirit can achieve and the obstacles it can overcome regardless of the circumstances.

It was a special moment to see these two elegant, refined and gracious gentlemen (who, by their stunning victory, had given many of us elder players hope) walk up to receive the accolades bestowed upon them.

It almost bought a tear to even the most hardened veteran golfer’s eye.

The younger generation were left to scrap over the minor places, with Thokozani Dladla and Bheki Mbokazi being the unfortunate duo to be counted out into second place and left to wonder what went wrong. The young ones of Carla Craffert and Gerhard van der Westhuizen took third spot and were delighted that Oom Salty and Dawie had won.

The ‘nearest the pin’ winners were Murray Hume on the 3rd, Roy Gibbons on the 11th and Gerhard van der Westhuizen on the 12th. There were only three two-club winners on the day and shared a healthy pot of cash.

Well done to all the winners and to Balan Naidoo and his team of helpers for producing a wonderful day, as well as a superb mutton briyani supper that went down very well and was enjoyed by all. We hope your fund-raising day was a success and that the Lafta continues to flourish and care for the elderly for many years to come.

WHAT’S UP AT THE CLUB:

6th – INKANYEZI SPECIAL SCHOOL;

7th – MORTIMER TOYOTA LEAGUE;

13th – FED AUTO MONTHLY MUG;

14th – MICK’S RULES;

20th – TOP OIL DAY.

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