Papua New Guinea, My Return, Part Four

Just to prove that missionaries are not all work and no play, I joined a group to play golf at the Mt. Hagen Golf Club. We had six of us, Dr. Jim, daughter Lydia, son Joe, missionaries Jason, Kevin and myself.  This is not the typical golf experience you might have at your local course.

 

 It turns out that this is a very nice 18 hole golf course. We arrived and there was a guard there to open the gate and let us in. The clubhouse was closed with no one there to collect our greens fees, they said stop by and pay next time you come around and someone is there. As soon as we parked we were surrounded with young boys who wanted to caddie for us. Dr. Jim negotiated a rate of five Kina (less than $2.50 US) per boy. After selecting six caddie he then hired two flag boys, at 4 kina each, as they do not leave flags on the course. They would run ahead of us and put the flag in the cup so we would know where it was then when we finished the hole he would run ahead to the next green.

Lydia With Her Caddie and Fans

We split up in two groups of three, Dr. Jim, I and Lydia followed the three boys. The caddies will do most anything to help you out. They will go find your ball and if you wish throw it back in the fairway, clean it after each hit and when they replace it on the grass they make sure it is teed up on a good tuft of grass. If you happen to hit the ball in the water one of the boys will strip off their clothes and dive in to retrieve the ball.

One of the Boys retrieving Lydia's Ball

The course was well-kept with good fairways and beautiful views. There were gardens beside the fairways in some places and several water holes to negotiate.

Dr. Jim and His Caddy

We had a great time playing and talking with the boys that caddied for us and the ones that followed us around. It rained a little on the last two holes but nobody seemed to care, we just played on. On the way home we stopped for chips, (French Fries) and soft drinks.

Heading up to the clubhouse after the last hole

Oh by the way the greens fee were under $5.00 US so the whole day was under $10.00, eat you heart out golfers.

Advertisement