SYNOPSIS:

Hilton is retiring soon as a caddymaster at the local golf club. He reflects on fifty years in the game he loves. When he is offered the chance to make some good money through a testimonial day he decides he’d rather relive some memories and play one last round with all his old mates from his non-white golfing world. Organising this becomes his burning mission. Helped by his granddaughter Beth and a supporting cast he starts to work on his plan. There are heartbreaks and successes in a poignant and revealing journey that celebrates the history of the non-white golfing world in Cape Town and it’s potential to change lives.

ONE LAST ROUND

The set up HILTON, the coloured caddy master is shortly to retire.

MIKE, the Club Manager offers him a testimonial benefit golf day for his retirement fund. He decides instead to organise one last tournament for all the old non-white golfers he has known over the years. How can he find them?

Mike and Hilton watch mainly white golfers practice and tee off. Mike pleads with Hilton to make all the money he can with his testimonial day and that means white, rich golfers.

Hilton is full of nostalgia. He politely tells Mike he wants to relive his glory days when he and his mates were young turks and on the cusp of a new dawn in non-white golf with the end of apartheid. Mike is exasperated but says it’s your day do what you want but I think you’re being a fool.

Hilton goes home to his house in Athlone. BETH his grand daughter sees that this is his last challenge. They sit making a list of invitees. Hilton gets on the phone, most of the guys have died, those that are alive are in bad shape. It’s impossible. Beth scolds him for giving up so easily.

Beth tells him to take the dog for a walk while she cooks supper. He walks through Athlone. Teenagers getting in to trouble. Youngsters playing in the dust. He rows with and stops a young gang who are leering at and cat-calling a young schoolgirl. He gets pushed and shoved. The dog is kicked.

GEORGE, a young coloured guy in cycle gear rides into the fray, He sees off the gang and escorts Hilton home. Hilton invites him in.

Beth is smitten. George is smitten. When George leaves, Hilton teases Beth and threatens to get the shotgun and bullets.

George realises the way to Beth’s heart is through Hilton and he joins Milnerton Golf Club to get closer to Hilton and Beth. He’s never played golf in his life. He’s useless.

Hilton gives him some lessons and gently ignores the obvious repeated questions about Beth. George gets better, shows some talent.

The conflictCHARLIE, an old black caddy mate living in Langa township suddenly dies and his widow, SOPHIE asks Hilton to put the obituary notice in the newspaper with the funeral arrangements.

Hilton with Beth’s help does this and takes it to the newspaper office. At the last minute he inserts “One last Round’ ‘We owe it to Charlie and ourselves. See you at the funeral’.

The notice comes out in the newspaper. Beth is livid, Sophie is distressed.

The coffin lies in the front room of Sophie’s house. Hilton talks to his old mate Charlie. ‘I’m an old fool. It’s all too late’.

Beth calls him outside. A crowd of very old coloured, black and white men stand with their golf caps clutched to their chests. The men talk in the yard. “I haven’t played in years”, “I don’t have golf clubs anymore”. I’d probably collapse at the third hole” etc. Hilton loses his temper with them and storms off.

Beth starts to chase him, gives up, goes back and locks the gate of the yard with all the old men inside. The funeral cars turn up to collect the coffin. Beth won’t let them in. Sophie at first is angry then relents. Beth will take the name and address of every man before they leave.

The graveside. Hilton stands alone and watches the funeral cars turn up and the coffin being borne to the graveside. Then a train of cars follow as the old man gather. Beth hands Hilton the list.

The men pass Charlie’s coffin then pass Hilton doffing their caps. The final man says “you’re on then”. Beth tells George that this is his test. If he wants her, he’ll help her Grandpa.

Hilton goes to see Sophie, he apologises. She asks him to clear the garage. They open it and there’s bags and bags of golf clubs in there. Charlie’s collection over the years. There’s no excuses now. Hilton starts digging and finds an old trophy. The coloured golf championships last held at Milnerton Golf Club in 1965.

Hilton goes into Mike’s office and lays the trophy on the desk. That’s what we’re playing for. Mike says “There’s no fool like an old fool but what the hell, you’re on”.

George, Hilton and Beth are frantically busy, on the phone, visiting the old men. An old people’s home. An old man sitting in a chair in the yeard, dogs barking and toddler grandchildren around his feet playing with golf balls.

The tournament day. The old men turn up but also a group of young black and coloured young golfers. There’s been a miscommunication by George. They’d heard from him they could play. Beth is not impressed but then realises that he’s saved the day actually. She gives him a hug and a kiss and organises everyone.

The old men grumble about the youngsters not knowing their history. How tough it was. The young men grumble about the old men they’ll play too slow. Beth and George knock heads together. They agree all can play. No-one must be turned away.

Hilton does the draw putting all the old men first off and the lighties can wait. The young men start to drift away not willing to wait for hours. George pleads with the guys to stay.

Beth goes ballistic and asks Hilton if this is what his life was all about - putting youngsters off the game? She calls them all together - young and old will share golf carts together.

We follow the teams around the course, the youngsters hitting it for miles and the craftiness of the old guys around the greens. Our core group of non-white golfers display all the excellence that there is in the game. The black and coloured professional golfers of this new generation laugh and play alongside the old men. We listen in on conversations between the oldsters and the youngsters at first in conflict and gradually coming together with humour and love for the game.

The prize giving takes place - joint honours shared. Hilton is handed a cheque by Mike. Mike apologises it’s so small. A group of committee members take the cheque look at it. One guy rips it up, replaces it with a cheque for ten times the amount.

Hilton steps into the passenger seat of George’s car. White, black, coloured golfers line up putters in the air in a salute to Hilton as he leaves the club. He cries in the car.

The resolutionA year later, Beth sits in black at the kitchen table. A picture of Hilton in her hands. Crying.

Six big young men including George come in to the kitchen dressed in suits. They go through and lift Hilton’s coffin and it is paraded down the roads to the graveside. Young and old line the graveside golf clubs in salute. Young and old men.

Women and children strip out of funeral suits and dresses. Golf shirts, caps and shoes replace the funeral garb. Cars rush off loaded with golf clubs that are thrown in the boot or on the back seat.

Two young men in golf attire knock on the door of an old man in the township. He has a walking stick. They help him into the car. A young woman pushes an elderly man in a wheelchair to a group of young men who load him into a disability vehicle. A headmistress corals her youngsters into a school bus.

We see them all arrive and prepare to play golf at the club. The golf club, a banner flies, The Caddies Trust. Other corporate banners fly alongside. Young coloured, black, white girls and boys practice putting, chipping. They tee off with old and young men caddying for them. Beth and George watch. They hold hands, a wedding ring on Beth’s finger.

The awards table. The cup is lifted up and presented to the winning youngster. The inscription gleams in the sunlight. The Hilton Trophy for “My First Round”. Crowds gather round and pat the youngster on the back.

FADE OUT.