The golf ball people - a bit like the fairies in the bottom of the garden - are dotted around the course, lifting spirits and bringing smiles to faces.

The creator of these clever little artworks is Karen Turnbull.

She volunteers to garden at the golf club.

"In among the garden, I've constantly found golf balls. I would hand them back to the pro shop. One day they said, 'We've got so many golf balls, you keep them'.

"But they were a bit damaged and golf balls only have a short life. I just said to myself, 'What could I do with an old golf ball?'. I couldn't bear to throw them in the bin."

While online one day, she saw golf balls made into ladybugs, which people were putting in their gardens.

When she made her first artwork and placed it in a common place on the golf course, she received a positive reaction.

"It was the reaction I got that kept me going. It just grew from there," she said.

She's now placed about 50 artworks around the golf course in areas where people pass by and stand for a while.

"I get a lot of responses from the golfers, even the men. They really like the little golf ball people," she said.

Golfers often tell her they get a chuckle when they see them. When they're not having a good day on the course, the golf ball people make them feel better.

Golfer Lynn Flanagan said the artworks "adds to the delight of playing golf".

"You'll be walking from one hole to the other and you'll see these cute little reinvented golf balls in trees and on the ground," she said, adding they were colourful, humorous and cute.

"It lifts your mood to see something like that. You might have had a bad hole, then you see them and forget all your troubles.

"We all think it's wonderful."

Meanwhile, Keith Parsons said the temporary mini golf course in Wheeler Place took him back to the 1950s.

"When we moved here in 1957, there was a modest mini golf or putt putt course in Telford Street, near Shortland Esplanade and Newcastle Beach," Keith said.

"I'm not sure how long it had been there or when it was removed. Does anyone remember it or have a photo?"

On the topic of nicknames for suburbs, Ross Greig says New Lambton should be known as New Lamington because of all the cake shops.

Why do golfers carry a spare pair of trousers with them? In case they get a hole in one.

Golf balls are like eggs. They're white, sold by the dozen and a week later you have to buy some more.

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