TO PLAY OR NOT TO PLAY

TO PLAY OR NOT TO PLAY                                                            Virginia Gow   24/10/12

The World is round and so is a golf ball. Gin had only played one game of golf at Mittagong when she was twenty two. She and a friend had a holiday with Aunty Eva, who lived alone in an old, one-bedroom timber house in the bush near Mittagong. For some reason Gin and her friend went to play golf. The friend played well. Gin scored one hundred and twenty seven on a nine-hole course and didn’t count the shots she missed. She figured golf was not quite her game.

When she contacted a friend forty-four years later to say that she wanted to come to a Harriers’ Golf Day, he was delighted. The Harriers’ met once a year at Parramatta Golf Course to play eighteen holes, then they lunched and caught up on “how you doing this year!’ over a few schooners of tap beer.

Peter McBride organized the day, Michael Price donated the prizes, and Gin was to present the two trophies, the “Rod Gow” trophy for men, in honour of her brother who passed on in 1971 and the “Jimmy Melville” trophy for women, in honour of Jim who passed away a few years ago.

A six am start down the airy mountain on an express train kept her pace with the sunrise. She was excited about meeting up with people that she had hung out with in her teens. Ron Price picked her up from Westmead Railway Station in his super white Ute.

Ron handed his camera to Gin and she didn’t actually have to play. Her job was to take photographs, walk and talk to folk, which suited her just fine. Twelve people played that day, Gin ambled around snapping swings and dings and balls in holes. A family of little wild wood ducks sauntered over the green and she snapped them, too. A golf ball collided with her leg, teaching her to pay attention to “fore”, in future.

Built in 1799, Old Government House at Parramatta is the oldest public residence in Australia.  For seven decades the first ten Governors resided there. The house nestled in two hundred acres of parkland. From this country residence, laws were made, rebellions put down, taxes were levied, and coups were enacted. This was the legacy of Parramatta Park.

In 1902 Parramatta Golf Course came into being as part of Parramatta Park. It is the second oldest golf course in New South Wales.

Nowadays, a green keeper lives in peace and comfort in the old gatehouse with the odd golf ball striking his roof. Trent, the superintendant, explained to Gin that golf courses are filtering systems preserving the green nature corridors for future generations. He maintained the pond so now wild wood ducks, magpies, owls, bush turkeys and black cockatoos nest and shelter within the boundaries of the course.

Gin talked cricket with the locals at coffee break and learned of famous Aussie cricketers making millions in India. One bloke’s uncle said that his nephew could not walk down an Indian street without being mobbed, like a Bollywood star.

Lunch cooked by Di was a steak sandwich washed down by a schooner of cold beer. Now there was time to talk and tell tales of old, remember old mates, tally the score-sheets and hand out the prizes. Everyone received a gift. Gin presented the cups, handed over the camera and declared that next year she WOULD play golf. The world is round and so is a golf ball, so if she can manage to stay upright on the earth, she may learn to hit a ball before next year. AND she was given the correct Harriers’ golf gear! What a great day!