MEETING and hatching a plan to sooner or later beat a No. 1 on the earth was most likely the very last thing on Cathy Stolz’s thoughts when she made a comeback to golf.
After greater than 20 years on the sidelines and elevating a household, Stolz has discovered her method again to the sport she has all the time beloved.
And no-one is extra shocked than her.
After returning to full-time work, Stolz discovered herself working within the golf store at Shelly Seashore Golf Membership on the NSW Central Coast.
Merely put, Stolz met some nice individuals and determined she needed to play some golf with them. The previous touring professional utilized to get her novice standing again in 2017 simply so she ought to go on some golf journeys with these mates.
Now she all of a sudden finds herself battling with a few of the greatest senior novice girls gamers on this nation – led by an outdated sparring accomplice, Nadine Gole, now the No. 1 ranked senior girls’s novice on the earth.
But Stolz, who’s a number of years youthful, has her in her sights.
“Effectively, I want to beat her,” Stolz advised Inside Golf. “That’s undoubtedly considered one of my targets for the 12 months.
“Aside from that, I’d actually wish to make the Asia-Pacific crew, which is chosen later within the 12 months.”
Cathy Stolz has made a profitable return to golf whereas discovering a contented dwelling at Shelley Seashore.
At all times a dependable driver and a superb putter, Stolz jokes that her quick sport nonetheless ‘sucks’.
“Perhaps I ought to have gone to considered one of Nadine’s golf faculties and discovered easy methods to chip,” she jokes.
Stolz gave up the sport when she had a household and admits coming again to the sport was by no means actually on the agenda . . . till it occurred.
Now her stellar play has earned her a begin – as an novice – within the Ladies’s NSW Open at close by Magenta Shores later this month.
“I understand how laborious it may be at Magenta and the way powerful they’ll set it up,” she stated. “We’ll see what occurs.”
Mockingly Stolz received the NSW Ladies’s Beginner in 1991 when she was Cathy Neilson.
“Definitely, the sport has modified quite a bit. The gamers these days have all received higher – particularly in girls’s golf,” she says.
“They’re higher than we had been once we had been children.
“After we had been children we thought we had been fairly good. However these kids at this time . . . gee, they’re simply distinctive.”
She’s additionally in awe of Gole’s extraordinary expertise in her senior years.
“I performed with Nadine in South Australia and we had been neck and neck with 5 holes to go however she simply performed that bit higher than me,” stated Stolz.
“Then we performed in Victoria [senior amateur championships] and she or he simply didn’t make a mistake, she putted nice and simply didn’t do something improper.
“I performed all three days with Nadine round three programs that I hadn’t performed earlier than however the second day at The Seashore course at thirteenth Seashore it was blowing a gale and she or he shot even-par. It was only a exceptional spherical in these situations.
“She is about 5 years older than me, so there’s that. Perhaps at the least she’ll most likely retire earlier than me.”
Stolz tries to play two to a few occasions every week lately however seldom hits ball on the vary.
“My lengthy sport is okay, it’s my quick sport that wants bettering,” she stated.
And being one which got here via an thrilling period of girls’s skilled golf, does she keep related with the outdated brigade?
“Not that a lot. I do keep in contact with Karrie Webb, Jane Bell and Tanya Holl and some that I performed with,” she stated.
And her favorite programs?
“Most likely Kingston Heath and The Australian,” she stated.
“However Shelly Seashore is true up there as nicely as a result of it’s an amazing place to hold round and an amazing membership to be a part of.
“Coming dwelling to Shelly it’s simply wonderful how lovely it’s and what nice situation it’s all the time in.
“I’m fairly fortunate to have it nearly at my door.”
