New South Wales Golf Club, where Arnold Palmer, and now its first kayakers play by Will Richardson | Jan 24, 2005 | Whitewater | 0 comments January 24, 2005 Photos Sharky (Team JK) and head of Ottawa Kayak School, and member of the Canadian Freestyle Kayak Team, organized a round of golf with a friend of his from Renfrew, who is now general manager of one of the oldest and the most prestigious golf clubs, NSW Golf Club right on the Tasman Sea, not more than 15 minutes from Sydney. Rounding out the group of 4, Sharky invited Joe Kowalski, owner of Wilderness Tours and Ottawa Kayak School, also the head organizer of the 2006 World Freestyle Championships on the Buseater Wave at the Ottawa River. Luckily for me, Sharky invited me as well. I had no idea what I was getting into until we arrived at the course at 7:45 am for our 7:30 tee time, oops. Luckily for us we were scheduled to go off the back nine. We had nothing, but Dave took great care of us putting us in shoes and clubs. The course is unbelievable, just walking around it puts you in awe with the beauty of the landscape, the ocean front layout, and the near perfect fairways, tee boxes, and greens. We walked the first nine, making the turn with out taking a break. One of the proshop people drove two carts out to us, along with drinks and snacks for the second nine, awesome. I was happy with how I played, even though I never saw my final score. The Tee shots left no margin for error, the greens were always small to medium and usually surrounded by bunkers that were taller than you are, or there was an ocean ready to take your ball if it ran off the green. I birdied the 4th hole with a sweet tee shot, a big 5 iron, and a really long put from the edge of the green on a long par 4. That was my highlight. I missed a number of pars by three putting with inches to go. My driver was a "Great Big Bertha" but I still managed to tee it up too high twice and shot the ball up like it was hit by a sand wedge. After the round which took a full five hours, Dave took us back to the 19th hole where we had lunch, and I had a couple of "Toughey’s Old" black ales to wash it down. Sharky drove us back to our houses at Nepean Shores, while I slept in the back seat. No paddling today. Tomorrow is the last day of training before the Prelim rounds of the 2005 World Freestyle Kayak Championships starts, oh yea! Tonight is more first class action with a civic reception for all world champions and IFC members, like Kristine. The mayor, city council, sponsors, etc. will all be there for the shin dig. Food and drinks complimentary, it says… cool beans. 🙂 EJ Submit a Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ