Tai Tapu Golf Club

According to the list of trophies of the Christchurch Golf Club, the Norton Francis Cup was presented by Norton Francis Esq. in 1931 for “Four ball par handicap play among Clubs in Canterbury affiliated with the N.Z. Golf Council excluding the Christchurch Golf Club”. Norton Francis, was Christchurch Golf Club Men’s President during the period 1928 to 1939 inclusive. (Yes, they had Men’s and Women’s Presidents in those years; only a President either gender, now). The original specification was for competition excluding only the Christchurch Golf Club itself, but at some point it also came to exclude metropolitan Christchurch golf clubs. The current holder of the trophy is the Fairlie Golf Club.

Participation in the Norton Francis Cup competition is by rotating invitations, except that a winning team’s Club is automatically invited to send a team for the following season. The game format is 4BBB Par. In practice, a pair of Christchurch Club players accompany a pair of each non-metropolitan Club’s players, not just to provide markers but also as an appreciated courtesy to participating teams.

Tai Tapu Successful in 1964
The main picture hanging on the trophy wall in the Tai Tapu Clubhouse is a studio portrait of the winning 1964 Tai Tapu team comprised of Gerald Ware, John Gleeson, Stuart Suckling and Malcolm Lohrey. Unfortunately, neither Tai Tapu Golf nor the Christchurch Golf Club has any details of the competing teams, the scores, or even the exact date of that contest. Gerald Ware was of course the Club’s greenkeeper at the time. Gerald passed away earlier this year and an obituary, giving information about his playing record at Tai Tapu, was published on this website. It will be obvious that Gerald would have been the mainstay of this golf team.

John Gleeson won Tai Tapu trophies 13 times between 1967 and 1984. Notably he had four wins in the important Waitaha Cup competition, 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1982. He donated the Gleeson Trophy 18 Hole combined Stableford Senior/Junior pairs drawn before match in 1974 and, partnered with Donald McLean, won it that first year. He won it again in 1979, also with Donald McLean, and again in 1984 with William McNally.

We are lacking information on Stuart Suckling’s playing record as it appears that he had only one success, and that in a Mixed event. It was actually the Suckling Cup which was presented to the Club by a relative in 1936. Likewise with Malcolm Lohrey, our records show only the Ballin Cup as one of his wins. It is apparent that we need a further search through our trophy records for Malcolm and Stuart.

In regard to service, the Club’s records show that Malcolm Lohrey was Vice President for the years 1976,1977,1978.

The Revival of 2000
In 2000, the Tai Tapu team comprised Bruce McKendry, Warren Meechin, Neil Scriggins and Wayne Spicer. Including Tai Tapu, there were 13 teams competing for the Norton Francis Cup and at the end of the 18 holes, three teams, Tai Tapu, Temuka and Kaiapoi were tied for first place with +12. We have been informed by Bruce McKendry, who was #1 listed in the Tai Tapu team, and it was also stated on the Christchurch Golf Club result sheet afterwards, that to decide the winner, a sudden-death shoot-out was held from a bunker beside the last green. An arcane process was used by the match referee to select one player from each team to be responsible for the shoot-out. Warren Meechin was the Tai Tapu player selected.

Golf balls were dropped in the bunker, and their lies were variable.
It will be appreciated that there was considerable pressure on the team representatives who must have felt gladiatorial, but added to that was another factor. It appears that on the day before the Norton Francis event, the game of the day was “The Greenkeepers Revenge”. In that format the greenkeeper was invited to place the hole on each green at a devilishly difficult position. Thus players had to cope with the hole being clearly on a downhill slope which in normal circumstances would be a “no-no”, or close to the edge of the green or close to a greenside bunker, etc. Unfortunately, the holes positions had not been changed after The Greenkeepers Revenge.

The fine details of the shootout have not been recalled, but at the business-end the shootout looked to be at the mercy of the Kaiapoi representative who had only to putt his ball into the hole from some 40cm away. But he missed. Tai Tapu’s Warren Meechin, from further away, didn’t miss.

The Second Successive Tai Tapu win in 2001
By winning in 2000, Tai Tapu automatically became eligible to send a team to the 2001 event which was played 10 December. The same Tai Tapu team as in 2000 was chosen but their playing order was reversed to Wayne Spicer (Captain), Neil Scriggins, Warren Meechin and Bruce McKendry. This time there was no need for a play-off as Tai Tapu won comfortably with +13, ahead of Charteris Bay, Lincoln and Rakaia all on +9. (Count back was used to differentiate amongst the three tied teams). It was interesting that a Wooden Spoon winner was listed—Mayfield. (Maybe we should do that on Saturdays at Tai Tapu?)

The Hoped-For “Three-Peat” in 2002
What an anti-climax! The event scheduled for 8 December was rained-out and re-scheduled to 2003.

Back to Business on 13 April 2003
Yet again the same Tai Tapu team, viz., Wayne Spicer (Captain), Warren Meechin, Neil Scriggins and Bruce McKendry. There were 13 competing teams.
And this time it was a really convincing win for Tai Tapu with +19, ahead of Hororata on +10, Pleasant Point on +8 on countback from Gleniti. And also again a Wooden Spoon was awarded, this time to a Waimakariri Gorge Golf Club team.

All Tai Tapu Club members at the time must have been exalting in the fine performances. Wayne Spicer was a respected developing player whose handicap index was 15.7 and who in 2004 was to win the Club’s Intermediate Championship. Warren Meechin we comment specially on below. Neil Scriggins was the Club’s greenkeeper who didn’t always play Saturdays, but still managed to win both the Intermediate and Senior Club Championships and twice won the Kevin Rennell Senior Shoot-out. Neil was on a Handicap Index of 7.1 in 2002. Bruce McKendry was one of the Club’s most consistent and canny players who could be relied upon specially in representative matches. In the Norton Francis Cup in 2003 his handicap index was 10.0. Bruce, who is still playing at Tai Tapu, has some 18 trophies under his belt. These include a startling five Otahuna Cup victories and both the Club Junior A and Intermediate Championships. Bruce was Tai Tapu Club Captain in 1993 and 1994 and served on the Club Committee.

(Unfortunately we do not have a photograph of the team on this occasion)

The Force Awakens!
The Three-Peat was followed by a quiet period when the name “Tai Tapu” was not seen on top of the Norton Francis leaderboard. But come 2006, Tai Tapu (without the aid of the Galactic Republic’s Jedi) assembled another quality team which brought the Norton Francis Cup back home again. This time on 9 December 2006 the teams entered were from Charteris Bay, Geraldine, Hawarden, Kaikoura, Pleasant Point, Temuka, Cheviot, Greendale, Hororata, Mt Nessing (from South Canterbury near Fairlie), Tai Tapu and Waimakariri Gorge.

The 2006 Tai Tapu team comprised George Engebretsen, Laurie Goodson, John McCabe and Warren Meechin. George Engebretsen was a prominent player at Tai Tapu and played in number of Tai Tapu representative teams but did not manage to chalk up many trophies. George was Club Captain in 1998 and was Vice Captain in the years 2004, 2005, 2006 and also sat on the Club Committee cumulatively for some nine years. Laurie Goodson won the Senior Club Championship in 1993, the Otahuna Cup in 1995 and the Kevin Rennell Intermediate Shootout in 2005—about 10 trophies in all. Laurie served as Club Captain 2001, 2002, 2003 and on the Club Committee 2007, 2008. John McCabe was Club Captain 2005, 2006 and was noted for his vigorous support for creating a new club balcony and for sponsoring the Saturday Men’s Ocean Gems Tri-Series. John himself took some seven trophies at Tai Tapu.

In the event, Tai Tapu went into the clubhouse with a score of +9 and the best of the other teams was Temuka with +7, followed by Greendale on +6. Waimakariri Gorge won the Wooden Spoon.

More about Warren Meechin
There was Warren, having played in four winning Norton Francis teams for Tai Tapu. According to John McCabe, Warren was fiercely competitive for the Club and although he didn’t win all his representative matches, he could be relied upon to win most. John further asserts that Warren was somewhat feared by other Central Canterbury teams, he said that:

“no-one, if they knew Warren’s game or had played him before, wanted to play him again. He had established a match-play reputation!”

Sadly, during the period after the three successive victories in the Norton Francis Cup Warren got sick – seriously sick. But even whilst fighting for his life, Warren returned to play and left his final marks—helping to win the 2006/2007 Central Canterbury Masters, winning the 2006 Tai Tapu Club Junior A Championship—and best of all, the inspired selection of being in the Tai Tapu team for the 75^th 2006 Norton Francis Cup. John McCabe asserts that on that special day Tai Tapu Golf received the very best from Warren. Christchurch Golf Club honoured Warren by announcing that he was the only player alive to have played four times in winning Norton Francis teams. Warren was delighted with the team’s win and at the 19^th produced a $50 note and shouted for all at the table. One of the Christchurch Club members thanked Warren and told him, “Warren-you are a very generous man”.

And now Warren has gone—but he will always be remembered at Tai Tapu Golf as will also the stunning feat of the team of Neil Scriggins, Wayne Spicer, Bruce McKendry and Warren in their three successive wins of the Norton Francis Cup.

Acknowledgements
The advice and information kindly provided by Rochelle Devlin of Christchurch Golf Club, Paul Blair of Fairlie Golf Club, and Bruce McKendry of Tai Tapu is gratefully acknowledged. Some material has been extracted from a previously published Tai Tapu Golf newsletter largely drafted by former Club Captain John McCabe.

 Submitted by Brian Williamson