Alexandra men (from left) Bill Belt, Ron Pilcher and Denis Cronin celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Alexandra Golf Course at a commemorative game at the course on Saturday. Photo by Pam Jones.
Mr Pilcher was among about 80 people celebrating the 50th anniversary of the golf course, but it was also his 83rd birthday.
He was honoured with a round of ''happy birthday'' from those attending the celebration, and also got to take the first drive of the day.
It went ''straight down the middle,'' he said.
The celebration was a ''wonderful'' day reflecting on the success of the course, Mr Pilcher added.
It had been built with significant amounts of volunteer input, and today's golfers should feel proud of the work previous generations did to turn ''a piece of wasteland'' into the 18-hole course players enjoyed today, he said.
