2017 Ladies Gold Coast Golf Tour Blog
Monday 24th – Friday 28th July 2017
Day 1 – Lakelands Golf Club
On the most beautiful of bright, sunny, 24-degree Winter days in Queensland, our 2017 Ladies Gold Coast Golf Tour began. Of the 17 ladies on the tour, 12 decided to start their holiday early by arriving the night before. The other 5 arrived into Coolangatta Airport first thing, where they were picked up by our lovely driver before swinging by to pick up the other 12 of us, eagerly waiting to hit the first course with our golf clubs. After all of our welcomes and introductions we boarded the bus and headed to Lakelands, which was in beautiful condition.
On arrival at Lakelands, it was straight to the Driving Range for our first clinic with Tiffany Mika, who we all agree is one of the absolute best teachers. Feeling warm and ready (although quite nervous) we all made our way to the 1st tee in our carts. The red tees were beautifully adorned with Birds of Paradise. Despite the name, Lakelands didn’t have as much water to cross as some had feared, but there were certainly quite a few bunkers. The gorgeous Par 3 14th had us teeing off over the water, and while many lost a ball or two, Margaret Perkins was nearest the pin and the amazing Tiffany was just 20cm off getting a hole in one!
The first golf competition for the tour was to see who was the most consistent with hitting the fairway from their tee shots. Laraine Hillier nailed it with 14! Margaret Perkins & Jenella Sanna were also very consistent and deserving of 2nd and 3rd places respectively.
At the end of the round, after a couple of G&T’s for some…. we were back on the bus before heading out for our Welcome Drinks function. After a couple of relaxing drinks, we all agreed that the nerves that we’d felt that morning were completely unnecessary as we could already tell that we were among friends.
Results – Day 1 Hitting the Fairway
1st Laraine Hillier
2nd Margaret Perkins
3rd Jenelle Sanna
NTP Margaret Perkins
Day 2 – RACV Royal Pines
Not a cloud in the sky as we all met in the lobby at the wonderfully respectful time of 9:15am. The ladies boarded the bus as their golf bags were loaded, and we were on our way to RACV Royal Pines. On arrival, we were quickly shown to our waiting carts before heading over to the putting green for a quick clinic with Tiff. Considering that today’s comp was going to be on Putts, it was the perfect clinic.
We hit the course in groups of 3’s and 4’s and quickly learnt that Royal Pines is not just beautiful, but also challenging. The greens! They are so large, undulating and quick it really was a great test of our skill (& weaknesses!). Many of us found the bunkers, but thankfully we only had one carry over the water. It was a glorious 23-degrees and all of us really enjoyed the day. The drinks cart out on the course always helps too! Kerry Wynne did a great job to get Nearest the Pin on the Par 3 2nd Hole and after putting those fast, humungous greens, we all agreed that Fran Smith (1st), Robyn Jones (2nd) and Judith Mika (3rd) were all VERY deserving to win the putting comp. Fran had only 32 putts on 18 holes!
Results – Day 2 Putting Comp
1st Fran Smith
2nd Robyn Jones
3rd Judith Mika
NTP Kerry Wynne
Day 3 – Rest Day
After two wonderful days of golf, it was time to relax. Some ladies chose to start the day by indulging in day spa treatments, others visited friends and family on the Gold Coast and 11 of us decided to go on a progressive food & wine tour of the area. Using the G:Link, the Gold Coast’s new tram system we made our way around for 4 delicious courses to 4 brilliant restaurants. Starting at Balthazar Wine & Dining, we indulged in tapas and wine tasting with their sommelier David in a gorgeous private wine room, which is encased in floor to ceiling glass with row upon row of wine racks forming two walls. Then it was a short trip back on the G:Link to Walrus Social House, where Tiffany assisted the Executive Chef’s Mark and Dan in preparing our entrée in a cooking demonstration. A delicious tasting board of crispy pork belly, Wagyu beef, arancini balls and salt & pepper squid. Another glass of wine helped keep us focused on this course before boarding the G:Link again for our short trip to the QT.
At the QT we were met with a glass of wine on arrival before being whisked up to the Roof Top Kitchen Garden by one of the QT’s many talented chef’s to show us the many and varied herbs, fruits and vegetables that they grow onsite and use daily in their kitchens. 
From here we made our way to the truly magnificent Bazaar QT Restaurant, which was an absolute feast of all the senses. The food here was amazing, and the presentation really was next level. The expansive spread of sweet treats was just too tempting for some of us and even though we knew our next stop was for dessert. We just could not resist in piling our plates high. Feeling completely sated, we had another short walk (some of us wished it was longer to work off some of the food!) to the G:Link where we made our way to the last stop of the night. The Marriott Resort & Spa’s Chapter & Verse Bar and Lounge was the perfect end to a wonderful progressive dinner, where we had a cocktail making demonstration before sipping on a Toffee Apple Martini and indulging (again!) in a delicious deconstructed Lemon Meringue.
Feeling conscious of our golf the next day, we all thought it sensible to head back to our rooms for a good night sleep…wondering how we could ever eat again!
Day 4 – Links Hope Island
With a leisurely pick up time of 9:45am, everyone had an opportunity to have a relaxing start to the day. We were all excited to get back into golf after our rest day as we travelled out to Links Hope Island. On arrival we were met by the club’s Golf Pro who whisked our bags away and by the time we walked through the clubhouse to the practice greens, our bags were already nicely loaded onto our carts. Over to the practice chipping and putting green where Tiff got us all sorted with correct techniques to help improve our chipping. Everyone agreed that having these clinics with Tiff each morning is a huge help to our game. Some of us have already seen real improvements, which is so wonderful!
Links Hope Island was a gorgeous course, with not as many bunkers as we have seen on this tour. The fairways ar
e wide and the greens, whilst being fairly large, were nowhere near as lightning quick as they were at Royal Pines. Today’s competition was to see who could get the most putts in when the ball was within a metre of the hole. It was an amazingly close competition with everyone doing really well. After a couple of countbacks the results were in and it was Robyn in 3rd, Jenelle in 2nd and the lovely Kerry the clear winner! Jenelle was on fire, also taking out the NTP on the Par 3 5th!
After a couple of quick drinks and the presentation of prizes in the club house, we were back on the bus to take us back to the hotel so that we could get ready for our Farewell Dinner. We met at 7pm at Moo Moos Restaurant, where we had a glass of champagne before a delicious 3 course dinner. The food was fantastic and the laughter (and wine!) flowed. We all enjoyed a lovely cake for Kerry’s birthday, which was the following day before heading back to our beds, lamenting the fact that tomorrow was our last day.
Results – Day 4 Putting within a Metre Comp
1st Kerry Wynne
2nd Jenelle Sanna
3rd Robyn Jones
NTP Jenelle Sanna
Day 5 – Sanctuary Cove – The Palms Course
How did we get to Day 5 so quickly? This morning most of us checked out of our lovely rooms before meeting in the lobby. Those who were staying another night or driving straight home after golf drove their cars to the course, while the rest of us hopped on the mini bus. On arrival at Sanctuary Cove, our golf bags were whisked away and placed on our labelled and waiting golf carts. After a quick coffee, we were straight down to the putting green for a short clinic with Tiffany before heading to The Palms 1st tee. What a gorgeous course it is! With quite a few bunkers near the green, it was important for us to think strategically about our shots, especially with today’s golf comp being how many shots we believed it would take us from the tee to the green versus how many shots it actually took us. The Par 3’s all seemed to have water involved, so there weren’t too many straightforward shots. Kangaroos were all around the course, relaxing and enjoying the good golf show that we were putting on. Margaret Puddick won the day’s comp, with Rosemary Marshall in 2nd and Laraine Hillier in 3rd. Anne Denton nailed it being closest to the pin.
After golf, it was back to the clubhouse to celebrate Kerry’s birthday with more cake and some lovely champagne, before handing out the day’s prizes and saying our farewells. We all agreed that is was a wonderful trip and that we were looking forward to the next, knowing that we would be among friends.
Results – Day 4 Believe Shots v’s Actual Shots (Tee to green)
1st Margaret Puddick
2nd Rosemary Marshall
3rd Laraine Hillier
NTP Anne Denton
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