He may only have taken up golf at the age of 50, but Noel van Onselen has been hooked – in the best possible sense – ever since.
The Sardinia Bay Golf & Wildlife Estate resident hits the property’s course at least three times a week and, even when not sinking birdies at home, can be found doing the same at other tracks in the Eastern Cape.
The golfing life was very much part of Noel and wife Kathy’s thinking when they decided to move to Sards some three years ago and the 65-year-old is most certainly living it.
Even on days when he is not playing a round, he will use the course as his “driving range”.
“I live close to the 9th tee box and I often go out in the afternoon to practise my driving. I then hit back towards the 8th green.”
He says Sards is far more challenging than what its rating suggests. As a longer hitter, he often finds bigger courses easier than his home club where his short game is tested a lot.
Even though the city’s wind can wreak havoc with some players’ games, Noel says he is seldom fazed.
Conditions are often gusty during local competitions and golfers need to learn how to adjust, he says.
“By far” his favourite hole is the 1st, where he has tapped in for eagle several times.
Though he has not yet managed a hole-in-one, he has come pretty close on the 2nd where he missed out on an ace by a matter of centimetres.
Sardinia Bay Golf Club – affiliated to both the Eastern Province Golf Union and South African Golf Association – now boasts more than 100 registered members, about 30 of whom are residents like himself.
As a committee member, he is thrilled to have been part of the process that has seen the course become so popular among the city’s golfing community.
Both members and visitors love playing a round as zebra and buck graze close by.
“I don’t even feel stressed playing golf here,” he says.
Contact me please
Noel was born in the then Port Elizabeth where he played a lot of sport as a child, including cricket, rugby and tennis. He also turned out for Westview in the local football league.
After leaving Nelson Mandela Bay he even played some provincial cricket in Namibia.
Most of his first five decades on the planet were devoted to work and loved ones, and it was only while living in Cape Town that he started toying around with a few clubs – and found he rather enjoyed the experience.
Noel often visited family in Gqeberha during the holidays and it was on one of these occasions that he discovered the old mashee course at Sardinia Bay, the precursor to the magnificent links-like strip it is today.
Every player worth his salt has a “golfing buddy” and for him that is Jim Maitland, one of Sards’ swallows who splits his time between Gqeberha and Scotland.
“At first I found it difficult to understand his accent, but I got used to the way he speaks,” he quips.
Until about a year ago, Noel was the proud owner of a single-figure handicap but then had to undergo major surgery to fuse four vertebrae in his back.
He now plays off a respectable 14.
“I’m trying to get it down. I’ve had to change a few things in my swing.
“But I am not too bothered. I used to be very competitive but not anymore. Now I just play to enjoy it.”