Season’s greetings golfers.
As your new club captain, allow me to introduce myself, Nicholas Schnell. Although my accent might lead you to think otherwise (I grew up in South Africa), I’ve always had a New Zealand passport and a long history with Hawkes Bay. My mother, who was Judi Coles (sister of Richard and Douglas, who some of you might know) grew up on an orchard in Havelock North. Her mother, Loraine Coles (wife of Guy) was the ladies club champion two years running in 1963 and 1964. And my then aunty Anne Coles also won ladies’ club champs in 1979, 1980, 1982 & 1992. During our childhood, we would come over here fairly regularly and play golf at our club and go out to Waipatiki for family holidays.
I’m married to a Chilean wife, Paulina, and we have two kids aged 14 and 15. I tried hard to get the kids into golf early on, but alas my son now finds mountain biking more exciting, and my daughter sticks to netball and tennis.
I’m a mortgage adviser and own the local Mike Pero mortgages franchise (since 2017). I’m also a keen property investor/developer which takes up quite a bit of my time. I’ve had quite a varied career including stints at Fonterra in innovation and sales and operations planning, Ecomist as a franchise manager as well as roles in business development management for a Rotorua manufacturing company, Damar.
In terms of golf, it’s fair to say I’m a complete golf nerd. I love practicing, I love playing, I read about it and watch it as much as I can. It’s given me so much enjoyment and I feel that by being club captain I can give something back. I’ve represented the club in the Greenwood Cup and pennants over the last few years and have played in quite a few Hastings Opens (and other tournaments).
As club captain and being on the “Golf Committee” within the Management Committee, my main responsibility is seeing that we, as members, all have a good time playing golf – that we get what we deserve from our club. We’re lucky enough at our club to have Brett, who’s responsible for golf operations, and does the actual arranging of the golf we play.
We all play golf for different reasons; some like to simply enjoy a casual game with their mates, while others like the odd club competition to spice things up, while others want to feel those nerves rattling as you stare down a 3-footer for a half in an interclub match. At our club we have something for everyone, and part of my role is ensuring we have a blast playing the golf format we love. Part of that will come down to making you aware of what is on offer so I’m going to endeavour to communicate this.
I believe we should always be working to improve, a bit like we try to do on our golf games, so please get in touch with me if you think there is something I can do to try and make improvements in our enjoyment of golf at our club.
I look forward to meeting those of you that I haven’t met and reconnecting with familiar faces.
Nicholas Schnell
Men’s Club Captain
P 021 316 131
E nicschnell@icloud.com
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