It’s been an amazing ride for one of South Africa’s most accomplished amateurs, Gilly Tebbutt, who has won her Club Championship for a 40th time, writes GARY LEMKE in Compleat Golfer.
You’re qualified to talk about Rondebosch Golf Club better than anyone. Which hole(s) have been kindest to you over the years and have you made a hole-in-one?
Over the years the current 9th hole (old 17th) has given me some good memories. It’s a par five across the canal and probably the hole players hate the most. For some reason, I have made more birdies there than any other hole! During my career
I’ve made nine holes-in-one in total, with three of them at Rondebosch, including one at the Club Champs a few years ago. Forgive me for not being able to remember the exact year. I have made two at the SA Champs, on the 17th at East London Golf Club (which was my first hole-in-one) and the 8th at Royal Cape.
Which of the 40 Club Championships have meant the most to you, and why?
My 40th win this year is definitely the most special of them all. When I retired from competitive golf I missed the contests. I am competitive by nature, so I decided to make 40 Club Champs my new and only goal left to achieve! So it was very special to have managed to win it. I’m 63, and I’m not getting any younger, either, so I needed to do it soonest. I don’t play a lot of golf these days and spend very little time on the range. For two weeks I spent every day on the range and on my short game before the champs to sharpen up – and it paid off. My husband, Pat, passed away in May 2017 … he was so keen for me to get to my 40th. Unfortunately he wasn’t there to witness it, but I’m sure he was there in spirit. So it was an emotional day for me from that point too. My clubmates and close friends came out and supported me on the back nine, which was great. My sister Lynn, who has won it nine times, was there and has been such a support to me throughout my career. They sprayed me with champagne on the 18th green – a first for me too!
You’ve come up against some fine golfers over the past four decades. Can you name a few of them?
Yes, I’ve had plenty of stiff competition over the years, which has made my achievement satisfying too. Rondebosch has always had the strongest women golfers in the Western Province, including Springbok golfers. Most of the WP team players have come out of Rondebosch over the years. Carol Purcell [Charnock], Rochelle le Roux, Eve Starke, Lorraine Todt, the Mallick sisters, etc. The Springboks were my sister Lynn Schultz [Whitfield], Joanne Lefson, Nicky le Roux, Tania Fourie, Francis Botha and Mandy Adamson.
How has your game changed over the years as you’ve got older?
It actually hasn’t changed much. I still hit the ball a reasonable distance and my short game has remained good. It has been my strong point. I’ve always had a strong mental attitude to the game, which helps too. Getting my mind back into tournament mode takes a little longer, because I don’t play competitive golf any more, so that’s probably the toughest part.
To have the longevity you have requires a remarkable level of fitness. How do you keep in shape and what injuries or setbacks have you had over the years?
I used to train in the gym to stay fit when I was competing. I don’t do gym these days (even though I should!), I’m naturally an active person, I have two dogs and walk them a lot on the beach. I also do my own gardening and housework, which any housewife will tell you is as good as gym. I also enjoy DIY and am renovating my little beach house in Franskraal, Gansbaai, which I bought recently.
You might not be able to remember all the wins, but the defeats have been few and far between. Tell us about the ones that have got away.
As you know, in this game you lose more often than you win, and you learn to forget about the losses and remember the wins. So yes, the losses affected me at the time but my opponents played better than me, so they deserved to win. As they say, you can’t win ’em all.
Over the period of decades you’ve played, who have been the ‘characters’ who help make this game we enjoy so great?
When I started playing SA Champs and Interprovincial tournaments in 1972 we played serious golf, but had a lot of fun
and made lifelong friends off the course, too. The players were older and I was the baby at 18 years old. It was different to
now. We were all good friends and had dinner each night with a different team during the tournament. We had Yvonne Human who played for Transvaal and Natal. She was very musical and played the drums and sang well, so every restaurant where there happened to be a band playing (as there used to be) Yvonne would end up playing the drums and doing vocals with them. My very good friend Judy Paterson is an absolute character and used to get up to all sorts of mischief. Lynne Harvey, now coaching at Hermanus, played for Natal and was also a prankster of note! There were others, too. On the men’s side, of course, Simon Hobday, who I knew well, was a legend. What a pity there aren’t many characters around these days.
Your career has spanned four decades. Who would be in your dream fourball?
There have been some greats over the years and my dream fourball would be Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer and Ernie Els … at Augusta National.
How did you get to become a member at Rondebosch and what changes have you seen over the years?
My parents were members of the club, so it followed that my sister Lynn, brother Alan and I became members when we were kids. We grew up on a dairy farm close to (then) Rondebosch, where we as kids initially learned to play golf. We built a few very rough ‘holes’ on the farm and we used to play around, with jam tins as cups. It was great fun.
How have your clubs evolved over the years? What was in your bag 30-40 years ago and what is in your bag now?
I started playing with a Jigger iron when I was aged five and had a Spoon wooden driver. I progressed to five Slazenger irons (five, seven, nine, wedge, putter) given to me by Pierre Oosthuizen, who was the pro at the club. I only got my first full set of clubs when I was about 13. They were blades, those were all we had in those days. I now have graphite Titleist irons, a Callaway driver and different hybrids equivalent to a 4-iron, 5-wood, 3-wood. I have had the same putters in my life. I don’t believe in chopping and changing putters. It is you and your mind, not your putter that malfunctions from time to time
– This article first appeared in the May issue of Compleat Golfer
