Golf
In a population of 4,000,000 people there are 150,000 golfers and they have at their disposal 400 golf courses. Both in the ratio of golfers to total population, and the number of courses to the number of golfers, this is the highest in the world.
The quality and variety of the courses is such that many a visitor, though not intending it, just can’t help stopping for a round or two.
Better then, to plan in advance.
Some basic facts:
Forget all that poncey business with motorised carts - on many courses they’re unavailable. So are caddies . . . you’re supposed to be getting more exercise anyway.
Forget, too, about green fees that leave a pain in the back pocket. While some of the more recently opened up-market operations charge like wounded bulls - $65-$90 - on many excellent courses a round will cost between $NZ10 and $NZ30, a great deal less on the smaller more intimate country courses. On some, a bit paddocky maybe, there's nowt but an honesty box!
Forget about long drives to get to the course, and long waits to get up to the first tee. Every city, town and most hamlets has at least one course nearby. While weekends can be busy, midweek playing opportunities are wide open.
Most courses are owned by clubs, but there are some excellent public courses, There are now several privately owned courses, with more planned.
Clubs welcome visits from members of overseas affiliated clubs, but it is wise to phone first to ensure that play will be available on a particularly day. Weekend play can usually be arranged, but will depend on demand by members. Proof of membership will be required but it’s only a formality . . . they’re more interested in meeting someone with a genuine love of the game. Find a playing partner is rarely very difficult - they welcome the opportunity of meeting an overseas visitor.
For that reason - because you may find you’re playing with some of the locals - it pays to pack a few inexpensive souvenirs as gifts.
Trundlers, clubs and other equipment can be hired or bought from pro shops at all leading courses.
The playing season is year round. This country is famous, if for nothing else, for its ability to grow grass. In summer, when dry spells threaten the turf, the automatic watering systems take over. Most kiwis prefer playing in the winter (March-October) though this is slowly changing. In summer courses are definitely under utilised.
If you set off on a golfing holiday you’re in for a smorgasbord of golfing delights. You’ll play courses as challenging as those anywhere. You’ll experience some snippets of history as you play. You’ll face some fascinating hazards - e.g. boiling mudpools!. You’ll be confronted with scenery so beautiful you’ll swear it was planned by pesky locals just to break your concentration.
You’ll rarely have far to go, as I said before. Auckland, with a population over 1,000,000 has 17 courses within its boundaries or close reach. Christchurch has a dozen courses within 15km of its centre, catering for a mere 320,000 souls.
And now for the courses themselves . . .
Waitangi. Rimmed by the blue of the Pacific Ocean, it’s a par 70, 5371m track set on a national historic reserve.
Chamberlain Park. Best of Auckland's public courses - closest to inner city.
Formosa Auckland Country Club. Designed by Bob Charles and said by him be one of the world's top 100 courses. At 7300 yards its certainly the longest in NZ. At Beachlands about 30mins southest of the CBD. But not cheap.
Gulf Harbour Country Club. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. At Whangaparaoa about 30 mins north of Auckland. Green fees $65 Mon-Fri, $90 weekends, public hols.
Titirangi. Snuggled in the hills west of Auckland is a course that’s almost a living piece of golf history. It was designed 50 years ago by the legendary Dr Alister Mackenzie, the Scot who helped Bobby Jones with the masters course at Augusta, and it’s changed little since.
Arikikapakapa. (Most people just call is "Ariki" . . . for obvious reasons). Right in the heart of Rotorua’s tourist playground. Among it’s more interesting features are a hot stream cutting across part of the course, and the dry bed of an old thermal vent surrounding the ninth green.
Wairakei. Set 6km north of Taupo, this is arguably the best course in the country. Designed by John Harris, it incorporates three courses in one: Blue tees 6312m, par 72; White tees 5406m; Red tees 4748m.
Paraparaumu. (Pronounce it para-para-oomoo). This traditional Scottish links-style course has narrow undulating fairways between well grassed sandhills. It’s only 44km from Wellington, allegedly a gusty city, so the boisterous winds here are also reminiscent of the Scottish courses. Gary Player produced one of the more dramatic rounds of his career here, shooting 64 into the teeth of a southerly gale. Not surprisingly, he declared it to be a genuinely great course. By modern standards it’s not long, requiring finesse rather than raw power.
Wellington Golf Club (Heretaunga) This is a parkland par 72 bounded by the swift Hutt River on one side and a gaggle of stately homes on the other. It’s only 28km from the city and its 27 holes are frequently host to major tournaments.
Christchurch Golf Club (Shirley). If Paraparaumu is Scottish, then this - like Christchurch itself - is in the English style. It’s another parkland course, groomed with infinite patience and skill, like most of the gardens in this botanically fanatical city.
Otago Golf Club (Balmacewan). This will not only test your golfing ability, but your stamina as well. It’s a hilly path from 1st to last. The country’s oldest club (est 1871) and in keeping with the Scottish roots of Dunedin they take a fierce pride in the presentation of their premier course. It has many fine holes, but especially challenging is "The Glen", the 11th.
Queenstown. The Remarkables, a towering wall of mountains that march away south, are indeed a remarkable backdrop to most of the fairways on this course, so take a camera. Though it’s not one of the great championship courses of the country, it’s one of those places one goes to play for the sheer joy of it . . . play, in the true sense of the word.
Bluff. For those with a hankering to notch up peculiarities, shoot a round on this, the most southerly course in the world.
Others. How does one try to do justice to the 370 other courses. Most major cities have an excellent course - Hamilton, Cambridge, Tauranga, Whakatane, Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, Palmerston North, Wanganui, New Plymouth . . . the names read like an idyllic golfing itinerary. Cross Cook Strait and play Picton, Blenheim, Nelson, Hanmer Springs sell in one of the prettiest valleys in the country. South of Christchurch and you’ll make slow progress because of stops at Ashburton, Timaru, Oamaru before the delights of Balmacewan and St Clair in Dunedin. Then in the hinterland there’s Te Anau, Arrowtown and Wanaka before heading off up the West Coast to find Greymouth and Westport.
And that’s not counting the stops you can make at the small country clubs where, if the course isn’t exactly the greatest thing since Gleneagles, the warmth of the welcome at the clubhouse is the stuff of life-long fond memory. It’s here that you will make the kind of friendships that will see you gladly hosting a few Kiwis on your own home course in the future.
If you asked me for one tip for a great golfing holiday that would be it . . . leave the well-worn path and go seek the native NZ golfer in his/her natural habitat, the small intimate club courses. Where it’s still a game, not a business.
Here's a couple of links - the cyber kind, not the golf kind - that will give you more info.
NZ Golf Guide provides course and contact details for all 400 golf clubs affiliated' to the NZ Golf Association. Of these, 258 are considered "participating clubs" because they offer discounted green fees and/or other special deals to Golf Guide holders. For $20 it's a bargain. You can order it from their site.
New Zealand Golf Association. Lot of liks to other golf sites in NZ and other parts of the world.
And if you don't believe what I say, take dekko at an independent writer, Ray Chatelin's contribution to Travelwise.
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Home Page
All you need to know about a visit to the
place where God set the contrast and colour and man
hasn't fiddled with the dials.
Introduction
What, hopefully, you'll get out of this
mish-mash of peripatetic ramblings.
General Information
Background bumpf on the country.
Getting In
Visas, customs, immigration, duty free
shopping, and getting away from the airport. Bloody
important if you don't want to be arrested on arrival.
Getting Around
Moving on . . . by road or rail, by air or
by sea.
Accommodation
"nuff said.
The Regions
What to see, what to do, why to go there.
Special Interests
Diving, fishing, golf, rafting, sailing,
skiing - and more.
Home Page
All you need to know about a visit to the
place where God set the contrast and colour and man
hasn't fiddled with the dials.
Introduction
What, hopefully, you'll get out of this
mish-mash of peripatetic ramblings.
General Information
Background bumpf on the country.
Getting In
Visas, customs, immigration, duty free
shopping, and getting away from the airport. Bloody
important if you don't want to be arrested on arrival.
Getting Around
Moving on . . . by road or rail, by air or
by sea.
Accommodation
"nuff said.
The Regions
What to see, what to do, why to go there.
Special Interests
Diving, fishing, golf, rafting, sailing,
skiing - and more.
Home Page
All you need to know about a visit to the
place where God set the contrast and colour and man
hasn't fiddled with the dials.
Introduction
What, hopefully, you'll get out of this
mish-mash of peripatetic ramblings.
General Information
Background bumpf on the country.
Getting In
Visas, customs, immigration, duty free
shopping, and getting away from the airport. Bloody
important if you don't want to be arrested on arrival.
Getting Around
Moving on . . . by road or rail, by air or
by sea.
Accommodation
"nuff said.
The Regions
What to see, what to do, why to go there.
Special Interests
Diving, fishing, golf, rafting, sailing,
skiing - and more.