Mike Walsh is the greenkeeper at Paritutu Bowling Club which will be the headquarters for the New Zealand championships for fours and mixed pairs from Thursday. LISA BURD/STUFF
Every morning 80-year-old Mike Walsh hops on his bike and cycles 100 metres down the road to his second home, Paritutu Bowling Club.
Walsh is the New Plymouth-based club’s greenkeeper, a role he takes seriously, arriving at 6.30am each day.
“I watch all the games, I watch the people, I don’t like people ripping our green up with their shoes.
“I’ve made people change their shoes.”
Keeping the greens in tip-top shape is a job Mike Walsh takes seriously. LISA BURD/STUFF
It’s been a busy month for Walsh as the club hosted the Taranaki Open Fours tournament in January and will be home to the National Fours and Mixed Pairs tournament starting Thursday.
It takes 2000 steps to mow the green and Walsh aims to have it at a speed of 17 seconds, which means it takes the ball 17 seconds to get from one side to the other.
Walsh, who won the Taranaki Open tournament with his team in 1993, waters the greens every night for 3 minutes, then the sprinklers are set for 12 minutes at 1am as that’s the coldest time of the night, and he fertilises them every three weeks.
“People see the green but don’t see the time that goes into it.”
The greens are normally mown three times a week, but come tournament time, they’re done every day.
Some days Mike Walsh is on the job until 10pm. LISA BURD/STUFF
“We take a lot of pride in our greens and I’ve got 180 members to answer to.”
Walsh, who has no lawn of his own at home, said Paritutu Bowling Club is considered one of the best greens in the country.
His first stint at the club was in the 1990s. He then came back upon returning from Australia twelve years ago.
“The greens were shocking. The chap that was doing them asked for a hand and I said ‘as long as you do it my way’.”
Walsh has stepped back somewhat this year after having open heart surgery, but he still oversees everything the other keepers do, calling himself the greens superintendent.
LISA BURD/STUFF
Mike Walsh is a bowler himself and his team won the Taranaki Open tournament in 1993. The time Walsh spends maintaining the green sees him there until 10pm some days.
When asked if he had a partner who may object to this kind of dedication away from home, Walsh proudly declared he’d been married for 61 years.
“She understands my commitment down here, she’s a bowler herself,” he said.
“The other greens she goes to aren’t up to the same standard, but not many are up to this standard.”
Article courtesy of www.stuff.co.nz – https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350187241/paritutus-walsh-master-art-greenkeeping by Stephanie Ockhuysen, February 22, 2024
If you’ve only been around a short while in the sport of bowls (and a ‘short while’ can mean anything less than 20 years in lawn bowls!), you’d be forgiven for never having heard of ‘Kittyhawks’ … or even having any idea what ‘Kittyhawks’ are … other than perhaps a fan club of a veteran World War 2 aircraft or fanciers of a special falcon bird.
The Kittyhawk Bowling Club is a very informal bowls grouping that sits outside the conventional Club-Centre-National bowls hierarchy … like the Eagles Golfing Society does in golf or the Queen Street Cricket Club does in cricket or the Barbarians Rugby Club does in rugby.
It was formed back in 1977/1978 to promote the game of bowls, particularly among young people, and to raise money for charitable causes (in particular the Halberg Trust).
It was, and is, an invitation-only club, limited to 120 members, who characteristically are well-known for having given much to the sport of bowls over the years …. and are shamelessly willing to squeeze the wallets and Apple Pays of the well-healed, at the same time zealously and passionately encouraging bowls in the younger.
They are ‘worthy’ people. And ‘Kittyhawks’ may seem a secretive society, but it’s not. At bowls gatherings, members may be called to pop up from their seats like whack-a-moles at a carnival arcade. That may seem strange, but they are rarely feted. So when it happens, please applaud them for their wonderful efforts.
Unfortunately, after many years of running the Kittyhawk Under 21 Singles (a breeding ground for our young Blackjacks) the tournament stopped in 2018. For no particular reason … it became just like many other bowling tournaments that have waxed and waned over the years throughout the country …and the waxing was now replaced with waning.
Until 2024.
Brady Amer, the enthusiast behind youth bowls in the Wellington Centre, and a past participant in the Kittyhawks tourney from 2013 to 2017, decided that it was time for Kittyhawks to return.
“We approached the club about kickstarting the tournament, and they were of course thrilled. So earlier this year, we held the tournament at Naenae with a field of 28 Under 21 bowlers … the youngest was 13 and the oldest scraped in under the 21 year old cut.”
“It was a great re-start,” adds Brady. “So good that we’re already planning the tournament again next year at Naenae … but probably moving it to Easter when it was traditionally held.”
The tournament will once again be ‘mixed’, which is the way it first started in 1992. It was ‘separated’ in 2002, and separate boys’ and girls’ trophies handed out to the winners. But in a nod to our trending genderless sport, the former boys’ trophy is now handed out to the overall winner, and the girl’s trophy given over to best girl. It’s an acknowledgement of this transitional period of providing positive reinforcement to gender equality.
“Girls are often intimidated by the boys,” observes Brady. “I’m not saying ALL girls … I can think of some who that wouldn’t even begin to apply to … but we’ve found that most girls play more freely with other girls.”
“Back in the day, the tournament used to attract entries from 40 boys and 32 girls. What’s more, the winners received $1,000 prize money, a set of bowls, and the opportunity to play with a Blackjack. We want to get back to that sort of level of recognition.”
For this years’ winners : Camron Horo from Rahotu Bowling Club in Taranaki (overall winner) and Hannah Dawson from Pakuranga Bowling Club in Auckland (girls’ winner), the spoils were a little more modest : a trophy, a set of Taylor bowls and bowls bag, and of course, the prestige of winning.
And all participants enjoyed the food provided by Nulook Kapiti.
Who knows what could happen next year … particularly with a fired-up Brady Amer leading the charge.
Keep up the good work, Brady. And of course, the Kittyhawk Bowling Club.
We wish our Revital Fertilisers Taranaki Representative teams all the best this weekend as they take on our frinedly rivals from the Lower North Island.
Follow the results with Bowls Whanganui and Bowls Wellington providing results. Senior Men and Women: Results Junior Men: Results Junior Women: Results
Play starts Friday for the Seniors and Saturday for the Juniors. Good luck to all involved.
The February Field Day has been cancelled due to many greenkeepers wanting time for preparation of greens for the NZ Nationals.
Therefore, the next Greenkeepers Field Day will be held on Wednesday 12th March commencing 10am at Waitara (morning tea), Lepperton, Inglewood, Vogeltown, New Plymouth, West End (Lunch), Paritutu, Oakura.
We are expecting Andrew Mitchell (NZSTI), Paul Berry (Prebble Seeds), Trichel Stark (TS Hort), and Karin Crake (PGG Wrightson will hopefully be attending.
Discussion points during lunch:
Taranaki Open greens
Heat Stress on Greens
New Product (Prebbles)
Nematodes and treatment.
General Business.
Please confirm your attendance with the Greenkeepers Association.
Congratulations to the following players who have been picked to represent Revital Fertilisers Taranaki in the upcoming fixtures at Whanganui and Wellington.
Senior Women: Briar Atkinson (Singles), Chris Commane (Pairs), Bridget Fletcher (skip) Alethea Rowlands (lead), Alesha Quay, Irene Taunt (skip triples) Amanda Crehan (lead ), Lesley Te-Awa, Tina Atkinson-Watt, Gale Fache (skip fours) Manager: Don Christensen
Junior Women: Angela De Bique (Singles) Jill Forbes (lead), Julie Hemahema (skip pairs) Shelley Clark ( lead), Judy Crawford, Linda Kape (skip triples) Sheryle Taylor (lead), Gloria Wolfe, Janet Ravji, Rita Davey (skip fours) Manager: Cindy Nicoll and John Sexton
Senior Men: SINGLES: Darren Goodin PAIRS: Hamish Kape Maurice Symes TRIPLES: Steve Temperton Kurt Smith Aidan Zittersteijn FOURS: Steve Sabine Bruce Colgan Steve Walker Craig DeFaria Manager: Bruce Hall Selector: John Garrud
SINGLES: Evan Jones PAIRS: Nathan Goodin Camron Horo TRIPLES: Simon Rowe Rob Clark Corey Brookes FOURS: Mark Hawken Craig Murray Luca Dobson Nigel Berry Manager: Jimmy Quay Selector: John Garrud/Graham Rieve
by Grant Hassall Sue Hodges’ Omokoroa quartet of Karen Pickering, Rachelle Morrison and Ruth Lynch have run out comfortable winners in the final of the 72nd Devon Hotel Taranaki women’s Open fours.
Hodges’ side defeated the Thames Coast team of Molly Galloway, Deborah Gainfort, Val Mathews and skip Kaye Bunn 30-15 in a rain-interrupted final.
The Omokoroa side settled into its work much quicker in the final, a four on the second end giving the side some confidence. That became even more pronounced on the 6th head when Hodges took a six when the Thames Valley quartet failed to get close and the Omokoroa side packed them in a perfect group down the centre line of the rink.
A three on the next to Hodges took the score to 15-4.
But Bunn replied with three successive singles, making it 15-7 after 10 ends at the morning tea adjournment. The margin could have been even greater, though.
Hodges held four shots on both the 9th and 10th ends, before superb Bunn bowls took the point.
A three on the 14th head to Bunn, as the drizzle became a little thicker, brought the score to 17-11. It was game on.
But the momentum movement went with Hodges. Her side took two fours in a row, plus a brace, to make it 27-11 after 17 ends.
It was at that junction, with the green starting to pool , that play was moved indoors.
Only singles were scored on the resumption, three to Hodges and two to Bunn, making it 30-13 after 22 ends.
Bunn then held a good five on the 23rd, before Hodges, with her last delivery, drew one just behind the jack. Bunn attacked, hitting a short bowl onto the counter, to give her side two. But with a differential of 15 and only two ends to make that up, Bunn conceded.
On the day there was no denying that the better side won. They placed more bowls around the head and that was ultimately reflected in the large counts which went their way. Three fours and a six were clearly the difference.
The victory for Hodges was even more sweeter given it contained Mother-and-daughter duo (Lynch and Morrison).
While there was natural disappointment for Bunn’s team, they took the defeat graciously. The gritty skip, who only returned to bowls four years ago, in fact won her 11th Thames Valley title in the open singles on the Sunday prior to the Taranaki tournament commencing. Bunn also won a Waikato champion-of-champions fours a generation ago.
Terry McAlary, of the Marlin Coast club just north of Carins, and Sue Brady, of the Pine Rivers club in Brisbane, have become the first holders of The Margaret Cole Trophy after they posted a nail-biting 22-18 victory in The Devon Hotel Taranaki women’s Open fours-pairs event at Paritutu yesterday.
There was much doubt in the result of the final, right up to the last bowl on the last end, after two junior players representing the Tower club in Hawera, Alethea Rowlands and Irene Taunt, staged a brilliant comeback in the final.
The Australian pair were in superb touch on Saturday and they continued that in the early stages of the final, despite the move back to the natural Maniototo surface.
They opened with a three and a five on the first two ends. Their domination continued to such an extent that after 13 ends, it had become 20-5.
That was when the run of Rowlands and Taunt commenced, just as the light drizzle began. Immediately, they took a three, followed by a four. Four successive singles were then added, before a two on the penultimate head, made the score 20-18. On the last end, Rowlands got handy with her first bowl. But McAlary bettered that. Brady added a second to secure the win.
Taranaki bowls legend, Margaret Cole, Black Jack number 20, was on hand to present the cup bearing her name, which was made possible through the generosity of Kevin Gray.
Weather Update: The Devon Hotel Taranaki Women’s Open Fours
7.00am Weather Update: All greens are clear and are being prepared for play as scheduled. All players to report for Opening at 8.45am and Start play at 9.00am.
The Paritutu quartet of Don Christensen, Rodger Hassall, Dean Elgar and skip Darren Goodin have been crowned the winners of the 119th Midlands Funds Management Taranaki men’s Open fours.
They defeated the Stokes Valley side of John Brien, Corey Brookes, Robbie Bird and skip Caleb Hope 22-16 in what was a tense final at Paritutu yesterday afternoon.
The tenseness was evident, sometimes in the play, and certainly through the score.
While Goodin did lead 6-2 after five ends, it was 7-all after 10 heads. Hope nosed in front 11-8.
Goodin took six points over the next five ends, although one point was a little fortunate as Hope, holding two shots, slid off a wide bowl and narrowly moved the jack.
The momentum was with Paritutu, leading 14-11, and with Christensen and Hassall putting more bowls around the head.
The 19th end was a beauty. Great play from the Stokes Valley side saw them holding three shots. Elgar superbly drove off all three bowls. Goodin held four. Bird drew third shot. But Goodin added in two more to increase the count to four.
However, Hope crucially drew the shot. He repeated the dose on the next end when three down. There was only one point in the match now.
The tension levels rose.
Goodin took a single on the 21st and then, when two down, played a good bowl to get shot on the 22nd. But Hope cleverly clipped it off to score a three and reclaim the lead 16-15.
However, the Stokes Valley side failed to get close on the next two ends, two threes to Paritutu giving them a five-shot lead at the commencement of the last end.
The last head, lacking in quality, had plenty of interest, with Hope holding two and a measure on the change-over.
Hope didn’t like his chances on the measure and elected to try and push off Christensen’s bowl. Goodin then sewed it up by drawing the shot. Yes, he got a slide in the process, but he would still have drawn the second shot if he had had a free run to the jack. That left Hope with the tough task of trying to kill the head, but Paritutu still had one shot and the championship.
The victory was Elgar’s first Open title in a glittering career, while it was a second win in the event for Christensen, Hassall and Goodin.
The Paritutu quartet of Don Christensen, Rodger Hassall, Dean Elgar and skip Darren Goodin have been crowned the winners of the 119th Midlands Funds Management Taranaki men’s Open fours.
They defeated the Stokes Valley side of John Brien, Corey Brookes, Robbie Bird and skip Caleb Hope 22-16 in what was a tense final at Paritutu yesterday afternoon.
The tenseness was evident, sometimes in the play, and certainly through the score.
While Goodin did lead 6-2 after five ends, it was 7-all after 10 heads. Hope nosed in front 11-8.
Goodin took six points over the next five ends, although one point was a little fortunate as Hope, holding two shots, slid off a wide bowl and narrowly moved the jack.
The momentum was with Paritutu, leading 14-11, and with Christensen and Hassall putting more bowls around the head.
The 19th end was a beauty. Great play from the Stokes Valley side saw them holding three shots. Elgar superbly drove off all three bowls. Goodin held four. Bird drew third shot. But Goodin added in two more to increase the count to four.
However, Hope crucially drew the shot. He repeated the dose on the next end when three down. There was only one point in the match now.
The tension levels rose.
Goodin took a single on the 21st and then, when two down, played a good bowl to get shot on the 22nd. But Hope cleverly clipped it off to score a three and reclaim the lead 16-15.
However, the Stokes Valley side failed to get close on the next two ends, two threes to Paritutu giving them a five-shot lead at the commencement of the last end.
The last head, lacking in quality, had plenty of interest, with Hope holding two and a measure on the change-over.
Hope didn’t like his chances on the measure and elected to try and push off Christensen’s bowl. Goodin then sewed it up by drawing the shot. Yes, he got a slide in the process, but he would still have drawn the second shot if he had had a free run to the jack. That left Hope with the tough task of trying to kill the head, but Paritutu still had one shot and the championship.
The victory was Elgar’s first Open title in a glittering career, while it was a second win in the event for Christensen, Hassall and Goodin.
PAIRS WIN TO AUCKLANDERS: Brendon Walton, left, and Adam Blucher, representing the Te Atatu Peninsular club, held off a stern late challenge from Bannockburn’s Alan Rickard and Hugh Andrews to take out the New Plymouth Club-sponsored pairs event 19-17 at Paritutu yesterday.
Blucher and Walton led 16-6 after 14 ends and appeared in control.
But Andrews, the skip, and Rickard pulled back a five and a three to tighten the game up. The deficit was only one playing the last end. Rickard held the shot but Blucher trailed the jack to sew up the game.
In the semifinals, Blucher and Walton again withstood a late comeback to beat Garth Lyne and Cary Pinker (Wanganui East) 15-13. Rickard and Andrews beat the Darfield pair of Bob Shorter and Ash Paul 22-8 in the other semi.
Stokes Valley’s Caleb Hope and his side emerged from a spectacular quarterfinal with a one-point victory in the 119th Midlands Funds Management Taranaki men’s Open fours at Paritutu yesterday.
In a game many observers rated as worthy of a final, Hope skipped his side of John Brien, Corey Brookes and Robbie Bird to a nerveracking 25-24 win against West End’s Craig De Faria.
The win secured Hope a semifinal berth this morning against Birkenhead’s Chad Nathan. The other semi is an all-Taranaki affair between Tower’s Scott Roberts and Paritutu’s Darren Goodin.
The Hope-De Faria match finished at 7.55pm, which was not altogether unreasonable, given an hour’s play had been lost because of rain mid-morning and the clash itself did not start until after 3pm.
De Faria’s side of Jordan Linn, Dave Wilson and Steve Walker led 10-5 after six ends. But then the trend of one team dominating scoring for a period kicked in.
Hope went ahead 16-10 through 12 ends; De Faria hit back to get in front 20-17 after 18 heads; then it became 20-all. Hope took a three-shot buffer into the last end. Brien and Linn, who had an intriguing battle, both got close.
West End held two, before Bird drew the jack. Walker, with an excellent hit, killed the end.
On the replay, Linn drew two good ‘uns. Bird was in the vicinity twice, his second bowl just falling short of one of Linn’s counters.
Both Wilson and Walker had handy bowls. At the change-over it was uncertain whether De Faria held two, three or four. Neither skip altered the head.
The measures came out and Bird and Walker, both having had turns, agreed that the count was only two.
And so it was Stokes Valley’s match.
The bowling achievements of both Hope and Bird have been documented previously during the week. Brien, a past Wellington Open fours winner, appeals as a traditional specialist lead. No 2 Brookes is Brien’s cousin. They have played together in the tournament multiple times.
Brookes, an eighth-year player at West End, is a Taranaki under-eights rep. Nathan’s Birkenhead side of his father Peter at lead, David Payne at second — both have previously won the North Harbour singles — and wily Evan Thomas at No 3, have the potential to keep Hope honest this morning.
Their 26-8 quarterfinal win ended the dream run of the Mt Albert side of Leon George, Jim Gray and Nathan Haturini and skip Steve Ramsay.
It was all pretty much one-way traffic. Nathan led 12-3 after seven ends, then 20-4 after 12.
Roberts, playing with Mark Kuklinski, John Roberts and Kelly Hill, eliminated Neville Hill (Onehunga & Districts) 22-17.
Remarkably, a five on the first end proved the difference according to the card. No more than a three was scored on any other head.
But the more accurate story was two-fold. Hill’s side of Davey Motu, Mike Bradshaw and Liam Hill — how many 14-year-olds have ever played No 3 in a Taranaki Open quarterfinal? — recovered from 10-6 down to 15-12 in front after 16 ends.
On a long head, which saw Motu draw the jack, Neville Hill, with his last delivery, rolled out the closest Tower bowl to hold four. Roberts, though, is a pressure player. He drew a pearler for one.
Thereafter, the Tower side drew closer and while Neville Hill often reduced the count, Roberts cribbed home with singles on each of the last six ends.
In the remaining quarterfinal, Goodin and his side of Don Christensen, Rodger Hassall and Dean Elgar somehow found a way to win 23- 21 over the Bulls team of Warren Hausman, Mark Smith, Scotty McGavin and skip Trevor Belk.
Goodin led 13-8 after 11 ends and held a reasonable three until Belk rolled in one of his own bowls for shot.
The momentum swung with it. Belk surged in front 21-17 after 22 ends. Goodin pulled back two singles but was in deep trouble when McGavin drew the jack for shot on the last end.
Goodin, however, found a path to the bowl, clipping it off to hold two shots. Belk hit another Paritutu bowl in.
Goodin drew another. Reaching through the head, Belk narrowly slipped under the jack, touching nothing for a frustrating loss.
In the third-round games that finished earlier in the afternoon, De Faria’s match with Garry Muriwai (Martinborough) was the closest and longest.
De Faria sneaked through 21-20, having led by three shots playing the last end. Muriwai twice held five-shot buffers midgame, but four ends in a row to De Faria had his side 18-14 in front after 20 ends.
Muriwai levelled with three to go, but a two and a single gave De Faria just enough space. Thomas had a tense clash with Darren Scott (West End), leading just 16-14 after 16, before pulling away.
Hope got a flyer against Mark Anderson (Tower), leading 12-1. That break was decisive in Hope’s 24-14 win. Roberts got past Dan Delany (Royal Oak) 24- 18.
Delany had led 13-8 after 12 ends and the scores were 18-all after 21 heads. Belk overturned a 10-7 deficit in beating Nigel Drew (Birkenhead) 24-18.
The other round three matches were all decided by relatively comfortable margins. Goodin beat Peter Nixon (Sunshine Coast) 25-12, Hill ousted Phil Morgan (Te Puke) 25-12, and Ramsay a 31-17 victor over Colin Boyle (Carlton-Cornwall).
*Four visiting teams will dispute the New Plymouth Club-sponsored Taranaki Open fours-pairs event following three post section rounds at Vogeltown yesterday.
Allan Rickard and Hugh Andrews (Bannockburn), who were runners-up in the pairs two years ago, meet Bob Shorter and Ash Paul (Darfield) in one semifinal today.
The other semi is between Brendon Walton, who was runner-up in the fours last year, and Adam Blucher (Te Atatu Peninsular) against Wanganui East’s Garth Lyne and Cary Pinker. Pinker won the pairs in 2014.
