2008 Gentil Sport Taupo Classic

It’s always nice to get out of the big city for a weekend and even nicer to be heading for Spa Park in Taupo in spring for a weekend of Disc Golf and friends.

The new management at the Spa Hotel / Motel greeted us with smiling faces and clean and tidy accommodation, which is great as they’re so handy to the course.

Friday afternoon and Toby and I are on our bikes marking out the course - Marty, Pete and company are placing out the baskets Thanks all, it wouldn’t happen without your assistance. Thanks also to everyone who travelled with baskets to make sure our PDGA ‘C Tier’ event was up to scratch.

By the players meeting on the Saturday morning we had over 30 golfers ready to go, including five woman and two juniors, not to mention two visiting US golfers from Colorado who had heard the stories of the spectacular Spa Park and just had to be there. Brilliant! Oh yeah!

The ‘Ace Kitty’ had just hit $500 as well so there was a bit to play for...

Saturday’s weather was overcast with a bit of wind from the west which made a few holes a little testing, mind you there were a few who managed sub-par rounds, one of which by Waikato’s Josh Smith had seen him put one hand on the $500 Ace Kitty by slotting the short up hill hole #17. By the end of the second round on day one, Josh had a 2 shot lead over Simon Feasey, but his Ace money had been cut in half thanks to a skip ace on hole # 16 by Ace robber Marty de Haas.

Tauranga’s Jimmy Conway lead the Masters, Pete Boyle the GM’s and Ming 'Kaching' Menzies the Woman’s competition.

Sunday morning and we woke to the sound of heavy rain on the roof, but as the players meeting time approached it had all but gone and even the wind from the day before had abated. In fact it would be fair to say ideal Disc Golf condies for all but the last couple of holes played when a couple of heavy showers came through. (If I remember correctly this was exactly the same weather pattern as last year.)

Once the numbers were crunched the big mover was Auckland’s Damian Peters who had played a blinder (53) to jump from group 3 to make the ‘Super 6”. Not to be out done the Ponderosa’s Simon Feasey threw a phenominal new course record of 48 (8 under) to head into the playoff 7 shots up on Josh Smith and Tyler Liebman tied for second.

The Gentil Sport Taupo Classic ‘Super 6.’ Pete Boyle, Jimmy Conway, Josh Smith, one of our visitors from the US Tyler Liebman, Auckland’s Damian Peters and Simon Feasey.

It’s great to see that even in inclement weather pretty much everybody is still keen to follow the tournaments top 6 players around another 6 holes. That gallery brings out some extra pressure to perform on some of our countries top golfers, and we are never let down. The ‘Super 6’ is here to stay!

Congratulations and thanks to every one who came along and made the 2008 Gentil Sport Taupo Classic another fantastic weekend.

See the action from previous Taupo events: 2007 | 2006 | 2004

Back to the top

Kiwi players always count down the days till the Taupo Classic, They love playing disc golf in Spa Park, especially in spring, mind you they love playing Disc Golf!

Paul’s forced to straddle putt on ‘lucky for some’ 13.

The Super 6 gallery didn’t let the conditions worry them as they were treated to some great finals golf.

The ‘Super 6’ is here to stay!

Back to the top

Back to the top