11/1/2023 0 Comments Game golf live“It’s really, really emotional for me because I know the backgrounds of our kids and the hardships and the trauma - it’s really hard-out,” she says. Like many settlements in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, and indeed throughout regional New Zealand, Tāneatua is a town filled with heart and community pride which has embraced the participation element of golf as a sport. “They come from a place where there’s poverty, gangs, drugs, violence, and for them to have this type of opportunity to see and meet people like this is just real heart-warming for me,” he says. He played rugby union, rugby league, and touch rugby as a kid but now has a sneaking suspicion that golf could be an even better pathway for his young students. Wiremu grew up in nearby Rūātoki and is studying to be a teacher, having served a three-year teacher-aide apprenticeship. They’ve come a long way and for them to improve that much in such a short amount of time, honestly, I’m just so proud.” “At the start of it, when someone was hitting the ball, they’d be running in front of people and trying to chip on the greens. I was taking them out to practise golf etiquette and all that stuff,” he said. “For the last two weeks, it wasn’t really about taking them out on the course to practise golf. Wiremu had to ring around some of his mates to borrow clubs for his young charges to use. Spreading his passion for the game, Wiremu encouraged a group of six young Tāneatua School lads into competing at the Aims Games. Wiremu himself has been a recent convert to golf, roped into a round last year by Ōpōtiki Golf Club junior convener and coaching legend Mickey Huriwaka. “I’ve done heaps of work with him for the last couple of years just to get him out of his shell and into sport and I just treated him like I treated all the other kids.” “He never used to even talk to anyone,” says Wiremu. When Wiremu discovered that Bayleigh was always swinging a stick around, and had been ever since he could walk, he decided to formally introduce the youngster to golf. On Bayleigh’s bag over the three days earlier this month was Tāneatua School teacher-aide Whetu Wiremu, although their journey together has been much longer than a road trip along the Bay of Plenty’s highways. And he doesn’t know how good he is - although he’s getting told a lot about that in the last couple of days.” He just likes hitting, so he really doesn’t care. “It doesn’t really fluster him too much if he does a bad shot. He wasn’t really a sports kid a few years ago but he’s just got right into it now and it has done amazing things for his confidence.”īayleigh’s dad suspects there’s something in the autism spectrum disorder that could be perfectly suited for the temperament of golf. “I’m surprised at how well he did because of his autism, but then I’m not surprised. “Oh, I’m so proud of him,” says dad Tarau. Photo / Jamie Troughtonįor Bayleigh’s parents Hemi Tarau and Pare Teepa, his grandfather and nan following in a cart, and various other supporting relatives, seeing their boy emerge in the past year was worth a thousand of the gold medals draped around his neck. Proud grandfather with grandson Bayleigh. Bayleigh also has autism until recently, he spent most of his time in class under his desk, not speaking. Hailing from the small township of Tāneatua - which doesn’t even have a golf course - the talented tee-master strolled down the fairways of Mount Maunganui, Ōtūmoetai and Summerhills golf clubs with a beaming smile, wearing basketball boots, and playing with borrowed clubs.Īs he had only ever played three rounds of golf before going to the Aims Games, Bayleigh was given a scoring handicap to reflect his newness to the game. A 12-year-old schoolboy from a small rural town in the Bay of Plenty has caused a seismic shock-wave in New Zealand’s golfing scene - winning a national title after only having played three rounds of golf in his life.īayleigh Teepa-Tarau is the new champion of the nine-hole golf competition at the national Zespri Aims Games held in Tauranga, amassing a staggering 87 Stableford points from his three nine-hole rounds - thanks to a barrage of booming drives and unerring iron shots.
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