Any ambitions that members of the Sardinia Bay Golf Club may have harboured about winning the Eastern Province Women’s Golf League on debut would have raised a few chuckles among those in the gallery.
However, several months down the line, it is a case of “she who laughs last, laughs hardest” after the Gqeberha team were crowned champions of the EPWGL.
Sards, one of the region’s more “intimate” clubs, accumulated enough points over four league games to push Humewood and The Hill into second and third, respectively.
It was a remarkable feat considering the club, which is based at Sardinia Bay Golf & Wildlife Estate, only has 21 female members on its books.
The idea to form a league team was hardly by design. It came about when the club was approached by other league sides to “borrow” some of its players.
Marlene Groenewald, now league captain, then put forward the idea of entering a standalone team to club captain Kim Broedelet and, before they knew it, they had a squad of 11 players.
Teams of six were selected to play in league games.
SABC news legend Janine Lee, who is enjoying a well-deserved retirement, is one of Sards’ stars with club in hand.
She was surprised by the intensity of the competition. Where their drive is mostly about enjoyment and “a beer in the morning”, some of their opposition showed their competitive streak by penalising them for making rookie rulebook errors.
There was also a bit of kerfuffle over whether it was fair for them to challenge for the title while holding slightly higher handicaps – largely as a result of the number of Par-3s at Sards compared to elsewhere.
That argument was quickly put to bed when a delegation of provincial golfers played the course and found it to be much harder than its rating suggested.
In addition, Sards’ ladies were shooting terrific scores away from home.
“One of our best attributes is that we are like a family,” Broedelet said.
“When one of us walks up the 18th fairway you will have all the Sards ladies waiting and cheering them on.
“At some courses the women just hand in their scorecards and disappear. We support, win or lose.”
Groenewald added that they were known for being the life of the party – aka as bringing the “gees”.
They are also big on development.
Contact me please
One of their initiatives, overseen by Lee, is “Strictly Come Golfing”.
On Saturdays, 22 players, some of whom are more seasoned than others, gather at Sards to be schooled in the finer points of the game.
It has become so popular that participants now include members from other clubs. Ages currently range from 23 to mid-70s.
“It’s a good introduction to the game,” Lee said.
“We see it as a kind of nursery for golf. The youngsters will probably move on to bigger courses, but at Strictly Come Golfing they learn to hone their skills.”
She quipped that the initiative was “civil disobedience at its best” – apparently, the photos on the programme’s WhatsApp group have to be seen to be believed.
Although Groenewald only took up the sport around the time of lockdown, the fun, camaraderie, travelling and mingling with members of other clubs have made her a lifer.
True to form, they never shy away from lauding their accomplishments over that of their male colleagues who, at this stage, do not compete in the EP league.
“To be fair though, a few of the men do come to support us,” Broedelet said.
Lee said she felt at home at Sards.
“I’m here till I die. They’ll have to wheel me out in a wheelbarrow.”