When Reina Booth and Audrey Duncan first teed off at Chisholm Links, Keith Holyoake was prime minister and Hey Jude was the year's biggest hit single.
Fifty years on, the Dunedin friends are still active golfers. Both are competing in Tuesday's ladies' nine-hole club play at the seaside Tainui course, followed by a clubhouse afternoon tea to celebrate half a century on the fairway.
Mrs Booth (91) described the onerous entry requirements she and Mrs Duncan had to meet when they joined the Chisholm Links Golf Club in 1968, at a time when the club was so popular it had a waiting list.
''We had to have six lessons, and we had to wait about six months or more to get into the club because it was so full.''
Back then, more than 70 women would regularly compete in the weekly competition but Tuesday's club play featured fewer than 15 competitors, she said.
On Tuesday, Mrs Duncan (86) was playing off a handicap of 19 over nine holes. Asked how she would handle the course when the wind swept in off the Pacific Ocean, she replied: ''Not very well.
''We were playing one day and it was a howling southerly, and my eyes were full of tears. I turned my face to see where one of my partners was playing and the wind blew the tear up over my nose! I thought to myself, 'what are we doing here?'''
They each demurred when quizzed on who was the better player overall.
''She is the better golfer,'' claimed Mrs Booth.
''Oh I wouldn't say that,'' replied Mrs Duncan.
