Left to right: Wayne Tucker, Jim Hardie, John Cramond and Sir Bob Charles.

 North-east pair beat Sir Bob Charles and 

partner 3 and 1 in NZ summer warmth

JIM HARDIE'S E-MAIL FROM NEW ZEALAND

Greetings from a somewhat warm Christchurch, where as you will see in the picture, my golfing partner from yesteryear, John Cramond, has arrived 

The photo was taken at the redesigned Russley Golf Club course,  where John and myself rolled back the years with a birdie blitz to beat the mighty Sir Bob Charles and another great friend of mine, Wayne Tucker, by 3 and 1.

The new Russley lay-out is already receiving  justifiable rave reviews, which must be sweet music to the ears of an often criticised course designer, Greg Turner !

John and I finished four under par over a windswept Russley.

Today John and I visited Christchurch Golf Club, in the middle of a new clubhouse build after being condemned in the recent year's 
earthquakes

We played an ex-president, and still a very handy five-handicapper in Ken Fergus and Wayne Tucker, ex-Canterbury district player, and whilst blustery, but very hot at 30 degrees, yours truly and the Cram finished five under for another victory, albeit only 2 and 1, due to the amazing play of the opposition!

The ball travels immense distances in the heat, such a difference from windswept, cold and dreary places like Royal Aberdeen and Peterculter!

The very thought of pegging it up in typical North-east of Scotland conditions appeals very little!

We have numerous challenges ahead to maintain our excellent start, but we hope to remain unbeaten for some time

Speaking to John in some detail, he was of the opinion that the two best "royal" golf club courses he has played so far on his trip have been Adelaide and Sydney, but he was also very impressed with Paraparmumu Beach in Wellington!

Hopefully your readers will at least be enjoying some winter alliance golf

Regards to all 

Jim Hardie
PS In answer to a reader who asked if there were any strokes given in the match involving Bob Charles, Jim says: "Well. John Cramond gets 1 and I get 3.After all, Sir Bob is a past Open champion!"