Just for my own memory, I am finally finishing this post...five years later...
As I have previously mentioned, I am a bit of a golf nut. And given that I have never had the occasion to play so much golf as I have during our year in NZ...it was pretty awesome and quite literally my favorite golf experience I have ever had.
Golf is "playable" year round from a weather and course conditions perspective, though perhaps half of the rounds were played through fierce winds and rain, the kind of weather I would not play through in Denver where the weather is generally so sunny and lovely. But if you were going to be deterred by wind and rain here, you were rarely going to play.
All but a handful of the rounds I played here were at our home course, Wanganui Golf Course, but also known as Belmont Golf Links. It was a top 20 golf course in NZ, and established in 1894. Belmont is a tough but fair course. It plays very long in winter and, with a steady or seemingly constant or relentless westerly wind, I would describe it as a difficult scoring course. But...the course can play relatively short in the summer, and with few trees or hazards, it can be somewhat defenseless on certain rounds and yield low scores. Other than the wind, it is not a difficult driving course, and its biggest ongoing challenge is lots of bunkering around somewhat elevated greens, and the fairly sloped and fast greens punish putting the ball on the "wrong side of the hole." It has only two par fives, one on each side, and four very difficult par threes - three on the front for a par 34, one on the back for a par 36. It is a par 70 total measuring 5600 meters from the men's tees. Which sounds short for us Denver area golfers...until you realize that 5600 meters at sea level equates to about 6720 yards at a mile high. And the course is brutally long from the Championship tees, which I only played once.
Pretty much all of my rounds were undertaken as a part of the Thursday league or the Friday Club, or some kind of weekend long tournament event. In fact, golf is much more structured and serious here (and yet at the same time so good natured and relaxed). Every player has a handicap, or is working on obtaining one. I only took part in competition play all year, no casual golf - playing strictly by the rules and in competition format, typically match play and a members Stableford competition. That is a major difference from the US, where so much play is casual, just a bunch of people playing and kind of keeping their own score. Each Thursday or Friday the club held a competition, where you threw in $10. $5 went to the club and $5 to an informally kept competition among the members. High Stableford points for the day (1st, 2nd and 3rd) won both pro shop money AND cash in the members competition. And there were other informal competitions each day. For instance, we went off in foursomes and almost certainly were playing a foursome match with your group. On the first tee, a toss of the four balls in play would net partners, and then match play with a partner would ensue against the other twosome. There were variations to this. Sometimes it was simply "better ball" where the winner of the hole on Stableford points won the hole, but often foursomes would decide to play combined Stableford team points, and probably the most frequent game was "better ball with ties decided by the second ball". If that sounds complicated, its actually not. And I would love to explain it. Over a foursome. Anyway, those foursomes matches typically were some form of Nassau, $5 (or a beer) for the front 9, and ditto for the back nine and the overall 18. (And don't worry, NZ's strict drunk driving laws and frequent sober driving checkpoints had me collecting a combination of cash and not all beer. Not necessarily so with my opponents and partners of course : )
I did have the chance to play four other courses here - Ngamoto in New Plymouth, Paraparamua on the Kapiti Coast, Manawatu in Palmerston North. All of those were also top 20 courses in the nation, and I loved each one. Paraparamua was the most acclaimed, as Tiger Woods had played the NZ Open once at that course. It was a truly terrific seaside links course.
One interesting factor of playing in Whanganui was having to do the math of playing both at sea level (literally) and in meters. This amounted to a 20% addition to every shot to get to my "distances." Before wind. For instance, if I came to my ball and was 150 meters from the hole, I had to add 30, to get to the distance I would be playing in yards, and at a mile high (what I am used to in Denver.) And there were more calculations to do - mostly the wind, but also the conditions. This course was located right off the Tasman Sea, and invariably played into, across or with a one to two (or often more) club wind. And in the summer, the grass got dry and a ball could roll 50-75 yards easily, specially around the greens when the fescue browned up. Meanwhile, after several days of winter rain, your ball pretty much plugged everywhere and with almost no roll. So the club selection was seriously challenging.
For instance, it was not unusual to come upon my ball in the fairway, 130 meters out, but into a 2 club wind, and the course being soggy, and realize that from 130 (!!) I was going to need a LOT of club. The math went like this. 130 meters = 156 yards at mile high. OK probably a gentle 8 iron. But two club wind, so...6 iron. Wait, that's not gonna get there. The ground is so wet. Better hit the 5. Low. And hard. And...the result...plugged five yards in front of the green. Ugh. Should have hit the 4 iron. From 130!
But a month later...playing a hole from 160 meters out (equals 192 yards at mile high)..i would be thinking hard five iron...except no rain for two weeks, so the ball is running forever, and with a two club tail wind, I might have hit a light 9 iron, and then would watch as the ball lands 30 yards in front of the green, releases, and finally runs off the back of the green. Geez.
You might imagine that I definitely tried to adapt and learn how to flight the ball lower and to hit low punch shots. And you would be right. I have never hit so many low punch 8 irons in my life.
My most frequent partners for my matches were Randy, Hamish, and Ross. On Thursdays, I often played with Randy, an older farmer, and I really enjoyed that. He was about a 26 handicap, loved the word "Bugger", was very adept at self deprecating humor, and was a good partner because he kept the ball in play and could win a lot of holes with that high handicap. I probably played the most with Hamish, who became a bit of a regular golfing buddy on Fridays and joined me on my trips to other golf courses. Towards the end I also played quite a bit with Ross Francis and with a guy name Warren, who went by Jordy. Always entertaining and enjoyable. I specially liked playing with Ross, who was ten to fifteen years my senior, a steady player who's handicap was similar to mine. Here is a photo of me from the last foursome I played at the course, with Ross, Jordy and a young teenage golfer who's name I am sadly forgetting.
And here's a photo of me and Hamish playing in New Plymouth.
But most of all I enjoyed the Friday club and the competitions. I have never looked so forward to golf as much as I did to Friday club. They even had three separate year long comps going on, the FedUp Cup (you got points for your weekly finishes) and my favorite year long comp was one in which the Friday Club kept track of your best score per each hole against your handicap, and you had a year long rolling low course score. On certain weeks you could gamble and gain a stroke on a certain hole but were bound to now keep that score you made that week, for better or worse. Serious fun on that one, and I was actually close and finished 2nd for the year in that comp.
It also contributed to my enjoyment for the year that I made TWO holes in one, and both on the seriously challenging 2nd hole, and in totally different conditions. The odds of making two holes in one on the same hole in a lifetime are infinitesimal, so, two in three months....Anyway, the second hole plays 130 meters from the gentleman's tees, is into a brutal left to right crosswind with the sea off to your left. It has a very small landing area and a false part of the green to the left, with a hill below it. A shot to the left quarter of the green generally ended up on a hillside about 7-8 meters below the green. And right is mostly safe, but if you got your ball up into a 2 to 3 club wind, you could lose it right and into this hill with knee high grass. Without wind, not so tough. But I played the hole maybe 50 times and it was NOT windy about 5 of those times. Anyway...in March, I aced the hole on a totally calm summer day with a gentle nine iron. It was a perfect shot, landed about seven feet to the right of the pin, took a hop forward and then checked, turned left and slowly rolled in. Here is a photo of me picking the ball out of the cup, and you can actually make out where the ball rolled through the dew to settle in perfectly.
Then in July, I was one of TWO people to play in the weekly comp, with another frequent partner named Joe Keating. It was a miserable day, 20-30+ knot winds, and raining sideways. Only six of us were dumb enough to play the course that day, but as I recall, Joe and I were both in the running for the FedUP Cup and the annual low score per hole comp, so we teed it up. After the first hole we were already contemplating calling it a day and giving up. And then, on the second hole, with this crazy cross wind, I hit a perfect 6 iron, and it bore through the wind a bit, landed slightly behind the hole, and hopped backwards and plunged to the bottom of the cup two bounces and a short roll later. Amazing. Same hole, four months apart! I went a bit nuts and gave Joe this bear hug. Only to realize that while Joe was pretty excited about it too, he now realized that, in order for this to officially count as a hole in one, we had to play out the round. Needing a witness...Joe had to play it in with me. He was a seriously good sport about that, and thankfully the weather lightened up at some point to a more manageable 20 knot wind and occasional showers. So we got in the round, and once again I got a small hole in one trophy for the accomplishment.
Also, unbeknownst to me, Joe started calling people over the phone so that while i was expecting to only pay for a handful of drinks that day (as is the custom when acing a hole), by the time we got back to the clubhouse, there were about 20 guys waiting to claim the drink I got to buy for them : )
It was totally worth it.
And, while we are on the finances of all this...the dollars and cents are one more BEST part of the whole experience. Before we arrived, I had inquired about the membership for the year, and was told the family membership would be about NZ$1200, or about $850 US. Not bad for unlimited play for the year. But when we arrived, I was told they were offering a special to increase membership, and thus payed NZ$750 (US$550) for an entire year. The kids all played several times, Jen probably played about 20-25 times - always between 3 and 9 holes - and well, i might have got my money's worth.
And, now to finish this very long post, here for preserving my own memories are my hole by hole descriptions...starting with the hole names and their lengths and handicaps.
Hole 1: Exodus, 322 meters, 6 HC, slightly uphill hole - narrow and lumpy fairway, always directly into the wind, with bunkers right of green, and a steep drop-off left of green. A tough starting hole, you had to bore a drive through the wind and leave yourself anywhere from a long iron in winter to a short bump and run in summer.
Hole 2: Seaview, 130 meters. 14 HC. I described this earlier when discussing my holes in one. A very exposed par three with very small landing area with a hill above the green to the right and drop-off/false green to the left. Relatively short, so easy with no wind, but ridiculous when there is a 30 knot wind off the sea and to your left, which is pretty much always.
Hole 3: Redan 364 meters. 8 HC. Downhill and usually downwind, a rolling fairway split in the middle by a hump with light rough. Green is bunkered right and left. It was a driver-mid iron in winter, and during the summer or in heavy wind, you could almost drive the hole! During the summer the green would not receive a shot, so you had to land twenty or more meters in front and run it on.
Hole 4: Outlook, 341 meters. The #2 stroke hole on the course, and one of only two holes with no bunkers. Long and straight, but right into the wind. And the green is narrow and has drop-offs on either side. Laying up and hitting on is the smart play, but why be smart? Instead, you go for the green, roll off one side and have a very tough chip. It was not uncommon to be green side in two and after two chips and two putts, you were left to wonder how you'd just made a 6. Again.
Hole 5: Moors, 308 meters. 16 HC. Get one back if you made bogey on #4. This is the easiest hole on the front nine year round. A short par four, very downhill. I found the best play was a long iron to the fairway, just a 90-100 meter wedge into the green. The green is slightly downhill and usually into the wind, and is surprisingly hard to hit, specially with the number of poor lies you can find, even in the fairway. Lots of pars to be had here.
Hole 6: Lands End, 343 meters. 4 HC. A straightaway, relatively lengthy par four that plays into the wind, OB left and dense bush right, but still pretty wide open for the drive, which interestingly, plays back over the 5th green. The green is long and narrow and protected left and right w pot bunkers. A great hole.
Hole 7: The Slope, 146 meters. 12 HC. A difficult, very uphill par 3, requiring a long to mid-iron. Deep bunkers to the left. Come up short or right and the ball rolls down into various swales. A ball can look like it is sitting in the middle of the green and come rolling back off the front and end up 30 yards down right front of the green. Go long and a very sloped back to front green awaits. My handicap always fluctuated such that I wouldn't often receive a shot on this hole...but I needed it.
Hole 8: Long Tom, 497 meters. A long par five which can be reached in two in summer but is really a three (or four) shot hole in winter, depending on the wind. The tee shot is downhill and relatively wide open. Poor tee shots left might be lost into a cow field, and balls pushed right usually require creative shot-making to advance the ball around this majestic pine to find the fairway again. The rest of the hole is uphill, with the second shot needing to clear a ledge in the fairway. If you don't clear it then you are left with a very uphill and slightly blind long third shot. Otherwise you have a relatively flat lie and wedge shot into a long but narrow green that drops off to the left or is bunkered right. A really good par five.
Hole 9: Terawhiti, 115 meters. The 18 handicap hole, a 115 meter, downhill par three protected with two bunkers on both sides of the hole. Relatively easy hole if played on a calm day, but a somewhat difficult green to locate if played into the prevailing "westerly" or worse, a gale.
Hole 10: Alma, 365 meters. 7 HC. Making the turn, you are far from the clubhouse, and play my favorite hole on the course, a beauty of a par 4. The tee shot is blind, over a high hill that is about 150 meter carry and to a wide, really lumpy fairway that is split in the middle by a ridge. A decent drive easily clears the hill and then the hole runs downhill with a mid-iron into a large green protected by bunkers right and drop-off to the left and back. This hole typically plays downwind, and makes keeping the ball on the putting surface very difficult, specially when the course was dried out in the summer.
Hole 11: Encampment, 454 meters. 17 HC. The easiest hole to par on the back nine, a straightaway par 5 of short length given that it is downhill and downwind. From the teeing area, the hole drops 50 meters to the fairway below, which is flat, and during the summer the ball would run and run, leaving a mid iron into the green, which is protected front and both sides by deep and awkward bunkers. The hole offers much in the way of strategic thinking - where do you want to leave you second shot so that you can have a good look at birdie since the green has some interesting slope and spots for hole locations.
Hole 12: French Pass, 173 meters. A difficult, long par three. It is often I have cursed at the fact that this hole is the #13 handicap hole, as I rarely made par but never was getting a stroke either. It has a big mound right, OB left and a sand trap the entire right side of the narrow green. Could range from a driving iron to an 8 iron depending on the conditions - wet or dry, down-wind or cross-wind.
Hole 13: Bunkers Hill, 341 meters. The # 3 handicap hole on the course, a long dogleg left that plays directly into the wind. Even a really good drive in winter would leave you with a long iron into a green with a wonderfully penal pot bunker front left, and two bunkers right of the green as well. Absolutely classical bunkering around this hole. This was one tough hole.
Hole 14: Dress Circle, 270 meters. 15 HC. the quirkiest hole on the course. A short and wide open tee shot with a mid to long iron puts you within 80 meters of the hole. Easy, right? No. The next shot is straight up a 25-30 yard rise, generally into the wind, and if you don't make it all the way to the middle of the green your ball is likely to fall off the false front and roll back down to the bottom of the hill and leave an awkward 40 meter pitch up the hill to a green that slopes severely back to front.
Hole 15: Belmont, 405 meters. A long dogleg left par four playing down off that same hill and down wind. In the summer the ball would run and run on the fairway and leave a short iron but in the winter I almost had to just play it as a three shot par four - driver, 4 iron, wedge!
Hole 16: Balgownie, 305 meters, 9 HC, a short and straight par four playing into a cross-wind, fairway is bunkered left and a giant mound right protects the otherwise wide open tee shot. The green is bunkered in the front and left and had lots of bail outs long and right, leaving these fun chip shots to a lumpy green.
Hole 17: Tiger, 342 meters. 11 HC. This is a mid length, slight dogleg right with two dominant pines guarding the right side of the fairway. For some reason I always seemed to drive well on this hole., which usually plays downwind, shortening the hole. But par was still a good score - the green has classic bunkering front, and left, and the green is sloped away from the bunkers, making getting the ball to settle in close a chore.
Hole 18: Inlay, 385 meters, into the wind. A brutal and terrific finishing hole, and the #1 handicap hole. Very long and directly into the wind. A good drive bisects two fairway bunkers and carries a ridge and goes forward to leave a long iron approach. An average drive and I would just play it as a par five. The green is huge, bunkered left and right, and sloped back to front, severely so in the back third. When the greens were cut for tournament play, you had to keep the ball below the hole on your approach. Five is a very good score on this hole. Four laps the field.
I am not sure which I more eagerly await: playing that wonderful course again, or the post-round banter and beer with the good people I met there. Until next time!
