The club has just had a golden couple of weeks.
Its senior men’s team beat the Otago Golf Club Bombers on Saturday to win the pennants title for the first time.
That backs up wins from the intermediate and junior teams which also won their finals. The senior B team also made it through to the final but lost to Taieri.
Not bad going for a nine-hole club out at Waldronville seen by many as a good stroll for the weekend hacker.
Island Park greenkeeper Michael Minty, part of the senior men’s side which won the title, said the senior men’s win came about from players joining the club at different stages and then coming together to form a good team. The club first entered the senior men’s pennants competition in 2014.
Many new players just wanted a change of scenery and enjoyed the atmosphere at Island Park.
Southlander Matt Tautari had come up to play in this season’s pennants and was a key player for the side.
Island Park made the final last year only to go down to the Bombers 4-2 in what was a close and gutting loss, Minty said.
The club of 240 members had always been popular and, at one stage, had closed its membership. But that had led to an ageing membership so it had opened up again.
The final on Saturday was a nail-biting affair and went down to the match between Chris Snow, of Island Park, and Ben Patston, of the Bombers.
"They had two big margins to start with but it always looked like it was going to go down to the wire. We had the last few games going to the 18th which was cool. You could see the pressure going on the players which was good," Minty said.
Snow in the end managed to hole his 2m par putt on the 18th hole to win 1-up and it was celebration time for Island Park.
The club’s 50th anniversary celebrations on October 16-18 will involve a couple of get- togethers, mixed with golf and a dinner at which former New Zealand wicketkeeper Warren Lees will speak.
Minty said the club had dragged in new members after the Covid-19 lockdown, students especially playing at the club.
