The Kainantu Golf Club by Charles Micheals

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This book is provided free of charge. However, if you would like to make a gift to the ongoing work of the author and his work with Wycliffe Bible Translators and help cover the cost of producing this book and others like it, please go to: Supporting Charles and Barbara Micheals' Work With Wycliffe Bible Translators

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Winter Park, Florida

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Published by the Aiyura Valley Historical Society

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: Pending

First Printing 2012 (Not for Sale)

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

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To the men and women who developed, maintained and operated the golf courses and clubs in Papua New Guinea.

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here is little written information about the Kainantu Golf Club and the actual golf course and so most of the information in this booklet is based on memories from those who played the course over the years. Muriel Larner1, who founded the Kainantu Cultural Centre and longtime area resident, said that many years ago she was asked by James Sinclair to find and make notes for him of old patrol reports. Muriel found a shed at the back of the District Office full of scattered records which the rats had nested in. After spending just a week there straightening up things and collecting information she noted a number of documents related to the golf club. However, the local Kiap at the time had her finish the search and so Muriel continued to look for information elsewhere. The search took her to an old shed behind KKB (Kainantu Komuniti Bisnis, Ltd.) where she saw more golf club records along with a number of golf cups.

What happened to these records may only be left to the people who may have thrown them out in the rubbish bin in clearing old office files or backyard shed. However, my hopes are that the stories and information shared are as accurate as can be. Therefore, may this tribute be in honor of all who organized, developed, managed and played the course over the years is has been in existence.

To learn more about Muriel Larner, read the book Mi Meri Tolai â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Muriel Larner Store â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 50 Years In Kainantu http://issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs/muriel_larner

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he Kainantu Golf Club was started after World War II in 1958 largely through the efforts of Neville (Robbie) Robinson who was based in Kainantu and employed by the Department of Lands, Survey and Mines as a Native Mining Officer. Robbie assisted the alluvial miners in improving their operations with such things as construction and placement of sluice boxes and advice on the safe use of mercury. Robbie was a man with unbounded energy, who enjoyed life and was fun to be around. He was a friend to everyone he met.

Robbie was the driving force not only of the concept of the club and course, but was also behind the development of the golf club and course. He also had the inspiration and perspiration to oversee the course construction. However, he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work alone. He had the help and support from many others who lived in Kainantu at that time. Actual work on the course although may have involved some prisoners from the Kainantu local Kalabus (jail).

Tragically, Robbie died in a helicopter crash in the late 1960s while working at Tabubil with Kennecott assisting with their program to drill out the Ok Tedi ore body. Mount Robinson, a peak nearest Tabubil in the direction of Mount Fubilan, was named in his honour.

The Kainantu Golf Club is historically one of the two oldest golf courses in the country and was developed after the Bulolo golf course was built. The Kainantu golf course is a nine hole course with two sets of tees to make for an 18 hole game. The course was constructed along a number of picturesque ridge crests and so over the years the course has been a challenge to play. Narrow fairways, sloping roughs, small greens and nearby roads and gardens have spelt out of bounds for many golfers and thus made low scoring rare.

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Hole # 7 and # 16 (Photo courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

Few golfers would deny that although the course is not long in length of the holes, it is both interesting and challenging to play and while many golf scores have fallen into ruin at the course, several holes-inones have been recorded. Ross Johnston was the first club member to have a hole-in-one and Denise Smallwood the first associate to have a hole-in-one. Denise was a casual player, but hit a freak shot which landed on the apron of a par three which wiggled itself back and dropped into the hole!

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ar for the course for Club Members is 67 and for Associate Members 69. The lowest course score was 61, shot by Randall Karcher from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL - which operated a linguistic centre in the nearby Aiyura valley). To assist with score keeping and figuring handicaps, John Beaumont from SIL developed a computer program to assist the club.

Golfing fees for Kainantu Golf Club Members most years were between K 50 and K 75. Associate Members or Junior Members usually paid half fees.

Full

membership allowed a Kainantu Golf Club Member to also play the Lae, Madang and Ramu golf courses free, but not the Port Moresby club. Originally each club Member was given a membership medallion to certify membership. Kainantu Golf Club Badge

The course in the early years became the focal point and social center for Kainantu and the surrounding Eastern Highlands area. The golf course has also been a favorite place for tourists staying at the Kainantu Lodge and for businessmen doing business in Kainantu with a few hours to spare.

Although the membership has fluctuated from year to year depending on the level of departures and new arrivals of the expatriate population, a few stalwarts have held the club together over the years. The first Papua New Guinean to play on the course was in 1971 when Yambi, from the Chimbu area played a round of golf. Until that time, only expatriates played at the course.

The club had a particularly active year during 1978 when it hosted the 1978 Highlands Open Championship. In other years, the annual Kainantu Cup has been held in June, as long as there has been corporate sponsorship. Other special golfing events were held over the years such as the Claret Cup and

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the Bundy Cup and there were special events held at the clubhouse such as the Theme Nights. Several special unofficial tournaments have also been held during the year as time permits.

Associate Members often play weekly competitions each Saturday commencing 2:00 p.m. while Club Members often competed in trophy events each Sunday starting at 8:30 a.m. Muriel Larner won the Associates Cup in 1982. SIL club members often played on Saturday mornings. Visitors to the course have always been welcomed anytime.

Muriel Larner (Photo courtesy of the Rosalie Everest Collection)

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n original clubhouse was built at the end of the old hole number nine sometime in the 1960s. It was a pleasant roundhouse built of bush material and it had a great view of the course and the surrounding mountains in every direction. Eventually that bush clubhouse was replaced with a better built one.

At the club house movies were occasionally shown on Saturday night (like Ben Hur and Empire of the Ants). The clubhouse sold beverages and was also a great place to swap stories. However, the second clubhouse was burnt down sometime in the early 1980s. The suspected cause of the fire was robbery (probably grog) and arson.

Near the original clubhouse there used to be a small metal cylinder cemented in the ground with a slot in the top where visitors were to deposit their green fees. Local boys learned that with flexible shoots of bamboo branches and a bit of pitch or gum on the bottom that they could fish out the money so that was abandoned about the time the clubhouse burned. For a number of years, there was no clubhouse on the course.

After the clubhouse was burnt down, the course was altered so that a new clubhouse would be built nearer existing homes. The old hole numbers 2 and 11 became hole number 9 and 18. A third club house for a short time was a used container. Eventually when the course holes were rearranged and a new club house was built in the 1990s, but was only staffed during tournament time or on Sunday mornings after a golfing match.

For many years the course has been maintained by the Kainantu Local Government Council who have kept the course mowed and occasionally changed the placement of the pins. However, various business houses and individuals have also helped maintain the course. On occasion though, golfers have had to bring their own lawn mowers to cut the tees and greens before playing. 12 | P a g e

Local temporary golf course staff mowing the fairway with small lawnmowers after course mowers broke down. Old hole # 5, New Hole # 3 (Photo courtesy of the Muriel Larner Collection)

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ocal young Papua New Guinea boys from the area serve as caddies and flag boys. Caddies received a Kina for carrying the clubs for nine holes and two Kina for eighteen holes. Flag boy were commissioned to find a stick and a plastic bag and run ahead of the players to plant the stick in the putting hole. At tournament times, official flag pins and tee markers were used.

Usually two caddies were selected per golfer. One caddy carried the golf bag and one ball-boy spotter found balls in the fairway, because the grass at times has been knee high. These ball-boy caddies could find anything. Often they were sent into the rough, which is tall kunai grass, to look for lost balls. Almost every time they would come out of the rough with the right ball and several other ball which the club members would often buy back for a Shilling or 10-20 Toea.

Special care had to be taken at times in order to get the right caddie since on more than one occasion golf clubs and golf balls were stolen. Some ball-boys were also known to make an extra profit by trampling a lost ball into the ground and finding it later for money. Bill Baker with local caddy - Hole # 9 (Photo Courtesy of Charles Micheals)

Care also needed to be taken when playing golf on the course because on a few holes there was foot traffic from women who cross the fairways with bilums full of produce on the way to the Kainantu market. Over the years, some well-worn paths have been dug into the course as the foot traffic of people ambling

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across the fairways on their way to the market has been significant. It was also a common sight to see men sleeping on the course, morning, noon or night.

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One of the striking features of the Kainantu Golf Club is the Kainantu Cross of Remembrance2 located on the Memorial Crescent. The Memorial Crescent contained not only the small golf club house, but also the World War Two Kainantu Cross of Remembrance and cannon. The cross and cannon were set in place in memory of the Australian soldiers who fought in World War Two.

1966 Kainantu Cross of Remberance Day celebrations in Kainantu (Photo courtesy of the Ivan Schindler Collection) 2

To learn more about this, read the book Kainantu Cross of Remembrance book by Charles Michealshttp://issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs/the_kainantu_cross_of_remembrance

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The cross was constructed free of charge by a former German serviceman who lived in Lae. Muriel Larnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s husband Wally asked the former German serviceman to create it. It was officially commissioned on August 23, 1966.

The president of the Kainantu Returned Services league (RSL) sub-branch, Mr. Abe J. Schindler from the Department of Agriculture Stock and Fisheries (DASF) Experiment Station (Ag Station) at Aiyura in the Eastern Highlands and the Commanding Officer of the Papua New Guinea Volunteer Rifles (PNGVR), Lieutenant - Colonel M.A. Bishop, inspected a guard formed for the ceremony.

Hundreds of local residents, schoolchildren and RSL members watched as the prayers of dedication were read by Army Chaplains Raymond Quirk who was a missionary priest from the Vanimo Mission, Sepik Province and Erich Reidel who was a Lutheran pastor. The guard was piped to and from the ceremony by two pipers from the Pipes and Drums of the 2nd Battalion Pacific Islands Regiment. Des Oatridge from the Summer Institute of Linguistics also played the bagpipes. A drummer-bugler from the Battalion sounded the Last Post and Reveille.

Kainantu Cross of Remembrance in 2000 (Photos Courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

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World War II Cannon in 2000

The Kainantu Golf Club house (built in the early 1990s)

(L – R) Harv Ouwinga and Charles Micheals – Hole # 9 and # 18 – 4th club house in background (Photo courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

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Fred Jessup

Linda Huffman

Jessica Kisuwawe - Papua New Guinea woman (Photos courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

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(Photo courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

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(Photo courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

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Bradley Kisuwawe (Photo courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

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(Photo courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

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Charles Micheals and Jim Knowlton tee off of hole # 8 and # 17 (Photo courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

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(Photo courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

(L â&#x20AC;&#x201C; R) Harvey Ouwinga and Charles Micheals on the 9th green (Photos courtesy of the Charles Micheals Collection)

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Carl Sands on 9th tee

uring the 1980s things deteriorated at the course with drunks sleeping on the course early Saturday and Sunday mornings (from drinking the night before) and on occasion even cows on the greens. By this time some ball-boy caddies were filling up the holes regularly and doing even more upon occasion. It was the only golf course where you might get hepatitis playing golf! Holes often have had to be inspected before putting!

In the early 1990s, a small group of expatriates from nearby businesses began to make improvements to the club. A small group was started to train young Papua New Guinea to be professional caddies and even golfers. Some caddies got to be quite good at their jobs and enjoyed the experiences. The expatriate group also planted a number of new trees in addition to building the new clubhouse noted earlier. The new club house carried a small supply of beverages, but was rarely open except at tournament time. The new trees did not last long as they were uprooted by rascals and over the years existing trees were â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ringedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and then cut down at night for firewood after they died.

In the late 1990s, the number of expatriates began to significantly dwindle due to the completion of and the nationalization of the workforce at the nearby Yonki Dam, the Agricultural Station and the PNG Coffee Research Institute. Many weeks would go by and the tees, fairways or greens were not mowed and so it became necessary in the late 1990s for golfers to bring their own lawn mowers and mow the tees and greens before playing almost every game. Small gardens at this time began to be dug into the sides of the course and even a few dirt roads for cars began to also spring up on the course. At one time, even a house was built on one of the holes, although it was taken down in quick order!

Efforts have been made by the Kainantu Local Government Council to better patrol and maintain the course, but local problems and budget constraints have prevented much from happening. At one time,

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Australian businessman Jan Boojd (who at one time owned a number of Kainantu businesses) talked about converting the golf course into a private airstrip. However, no action was taken on the suggestion.

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oday the course is still in existence, but not used for golfing at all. Over the past few years the course has been managed by various interim officials who have served under the caretaker club President, former Councilor, Mr. Jorifa Yubiko who has looking after the course on an ad hoc basis. Currently there is an effort to return the Kainantu Golf Club and course to its former glory. Mr. Samuel Uge and others are seeking support from local district administrators and business houses to help clean up the course and regularly maintain it so golf may resume on the course.