Ladies at The Wanderers Golf Club

Brief history

In the late 1930’s the Chairman of  The Wanderers Club, Victor Kent requested Felix Olver to construct a golf club off Corlett Drive in Illovo. He realized that the SA Railways were “eyeing” the Wanderers Club land in Station Street for extensions to the main Johannesburg station. In 1939 an 18 hole golf course was opened. The ladies section was established simultaneously with the opening of the golf club and the first lady captain was Mrs Kay Deane. The ladies section has thrived over the last 70 years and has about 70 current members.

The ladies section has produced a number of Springbok golfers over the years namely: Julia Wipplinger (1964), Jenny Barclay (1969, 72, 73 and 75), Cheran Gerber (1972, 73, 74 and 76), Lisle Nel (1974), Joanne Norton (1998) and most recently Tandi Cuningham (Von Reuben) 2008.

Some other important members’ names to mention are Vivienne Player, Thelma Donen, Joyce Williams, Dr Helen Suzman, Doreen Sanders, Peg Pentalow and Pat Pretorius.

Ladies committee

Vice-President: Gill van der Meulen
Captain: Sue Prior
Vice-Captain: Robyn Ireland
Committee: Paula Forssman, Tessa Hinton, Jo Morley-Jepson, Sue Norval, Pam Spencer
Secretary: May Walsh

Player Profile - Tandi Cunningham

Tandi Von Ruben joined the Wanderers Golf Club in 2004 and immediately set out on her path to turn professional when she felt she was ready.

In 2005, Tandi became the number one seed in the Ladies’ section of the Wanderers and was an active member of our first league team where she was unbeaten in the GLadies at Wanderers Golf Clubauteng Scratch League for that year.

2006 saw Tandi participating in all the national tournaments throughout the country with one of her highlights winning the individual 72 hole teams championships in Port Elizabeth.  She also attained her Junior Springbok colours (for a test against the Dutch) and she was ranked 5th in the country.
In 2007 she won the Club Championships by 30 shots and set a new championship record of 7 under par.  She also set a new course record in her morning round of 67.  Success was also hers when she won the Botswana Open Championship.  She made all the cuts in the four pro tournaments in South Africa that she entered as an amateur.  Tandi then decided to try her hand overseas to gain experience and climbed to number 3 in the local rankings, in spite of missing several tournaments here while she was overseas.

2008 saw Tandi continue to play in all the local tournaments and she again made the cut in all four of the local pro tournaments, including being the leading amateur in the Pam Golding Tournament held in Nelspruit.  She was selected to play in the All Africa Challenge Trophy in Egypt where the SA team won by 38 shots and Tandi was the runner-up in the individual gross in this tournament.

Tandi turned professional in November 2008 and has attained playing privileges on the Ladies European Tour, the Asian Tour and the SAS Masters Tour for the 2009 season (category 10B card).  So far, she has missed the cut by one shot in the Thailand Ladies Open in Bangkok but managed a very creditable tied 4th in the DFL Ladies Indian Open in Delhi.  The highlight of the year to date is winning the South African Ladies Open Championship at Parkview in March 2009.

The Wanderers Golf Club League Representation

The ladies section enters two silver teams and two bronze teams in the Gauteng weekday betterball league and the business girls have two teams in the Sunday betterball league. In 2008 the Wanderers first silver team, captained by Jo Morley-Jepson won the Gauteng league.  In 2009 we have the following teams:

League teams and Captains
Weekday betterball silver division 1 - Jo Morley-Jepson
Weekday betterball silver division 3 - Gill van der Meulen
Weekday betterball bronze division 1 - Pam Spencer
Weekday betterball bronze division 3 - Pam Hoffman
Sunday betterball division 2 - Sue Norval
Sunday betterball division 3 - Colleen Lawson

Business Girls

This sub-section is designed especially for the working girls that cannot play during the week. The club has vey kindly made 4 tee-off times available to the BG’s on a Saturday morning from 11:15. There are about 24 active members who play on a regular basis. Most of the BG’s participate in the major ladies competitions such as Club Championships, Ladies Chairman’s prize, Spring Competition and the Christmas competition. The Business Girls are a very festive bunch and have an annual tour away to Salt Rock or Sun City. If you are a working girl and would like to join in with the BG’s please contact the BG’s captain, Marinda Callaghan on 082 257 6466.

Ladies Section up and coming events

The Ladies Open competitions are held on the 4th Friday of the month. Ladies are encouraged to invite members from other clubs to play in the opens, but we also welcome four balls of visitors from other clubs.  We encourage you to stay for prize-giving by having a drink and a light lunch is available.  The dates for the opens and special days  are as follows:

Friday 22 May – Ladies Open 4 ball alliance
Friday 29 May – Chairman’s Trophy 36 holes
Friday 19 June – Sanlam Cancer Challenge
Friday 26 June – Ladies Open 4 ball alliance
Friday 24 July – Open Charity Day
Friday 28 August – Ladies Open 4 ball alliance
Friday 11 September – Spring Competition 36 Holes
Friday 29 September – Grannies vs. Rest followed by lunch
Friday 23 October – Ladies Open 4 ball alliance
Friday 27 November – Ladies Christmas competition, shot gun start at 12h45 followed by Christmas Party.

Charity Days

The ladies open and the mixed invitational charity events will be held on Friday 24 July and Sunday 26 July respectively.  In these tough economic times it is really important that we make a concerted effort to support the Wanderers Charity Days. The money raised from the events is donated to various charities chosen by the Lady Captain.  Last year’s event raised R58 000 which was donated to the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the Rhodes Centre for Social Development,  Ikhumaleng Old Age Home in Alexandra, The United Cerebral Palsy Trust of S.A. and the Sisters of Mercy Winterveldt Feeding Scheme.

If you are interested in supporting the Charity Days please contact May Walsh on 011 447 3311/6931 or Sue Prior on 082 443 6219. We desperately need prizes (4 x each prize) and if you are able to sponsor a hole it will cost R600, which will enable you to place advertising banners on the hole of your choice.  All donations will be gladly accepted.

Please contact May Walsh on 011 447-3311/6931 to book times for these events.

General News

Representation on Ladies Golf Gauteng Committee:  Ann Bainbridge has served as president of this committee since 2007 and Les Rule, Club captain in 2007, has been nominated as president to take over from Ann after the AGM in May 2009.  Gill van der Meulen has been nominated as a committee member from May 2009.

News from the main club:  Please note that all golf affiliate members can purchase a Wanderers Club smart card at a cost of R50 and receive a 10% discount on food and beverage purchases at the Wanderers Main Clubhouse.