What can only be described as extraordinary times, my 2020 year in review falls very short of original expectations. It started out looking to be extremely promising, but as for most, by February/March COVID-19 had turned the World on its head.
The positives I can take, aside from my family being in good health, was a few games at courses in the Sandbelt region, my first game in New Zealand and the maiden flight of a Christmas present from my wife, a DJI drone.
It was weird to see the golf majors played in the American fall, particularly the Masters. Along with having the Open Championship cancelled. This along with our local Australian tournaments cancelled. I had really been looking forward to the Australian PGA being held at Royal Queensland. With any luck 2021 will see these return to normal times and with a small crowd.
Titirangi Golf Clubs 14th Hole
With limited opportunities to travel, I did manage to play a few courses for the first time. They were Keysborough Golf Club, the renovated Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club North course and Titirangi Golf Club, the only Dr Alister Mackenzie designed course in New Zealand. It was upon the return flight from NZ that we started to see signs of the impending pandemic, with quite a few travelers returning from China with masks.
The 18th green at Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club
There were a few visits to previously played clubs including The Dunes Golf Links and Kingston Heath Golf Club. The later was a retro club day organised by Rollback Alliance, a group committed to having the golf ball rolled back, ensuring some of the great golf courses remain relevant, along with speeding up the game. This made playing one of the great Sandbelt courses, a lot more interesting experience. Along with trying the clubs Southerly Buster, something I had not managed on previous visits. This is an alcoholic drink made up of scotch, white curacao, Angostura bitters, lime cordial and dry ginger ale served in a pewter mug.
Hopefully 2021 will be a more productive year, seeing the effects of the pandemic subside somewhat with a vaccine rolled out globally.
