We are out today as a 4 Ball ambrose to play in the Charity golf day for the Carbine Club of NZ. A great charity which raises money, to support athletes with disability.
Pakuranga Golf Club hosts this event which starts with a great sausage sizzle and a bit of banter before the shotgun start. Our team, believe it or not, are defending champions.
Spirits were high and expectations firmly in place. Pakuranga golf club has some excellent photos in their club rooms of the development around the original course. The course is in South East Auckland only 25 minutes from town. In 1969 it was a farm and the course was developed that year into the lovely parkland course it is today. The photos show the journey from farm to residential take over around the course and the suburb.
The course is in excellent condition sand based greens with well established tree lined fairways, a true parkland course. Which is a phrase I am not really sure means anything. “Resembles a park” ( has trees) “inland” ( is not links) “manicured” (they cut the grass in the rough)
There are trees up every fairway and on some holes they really encroach on your drive the – the 2nd for example needs a high sliding slice to avoid the trees which seems appealing off the tee. Our 4 ball each managed a straight drive through the trees into an impossible spot. If you are playing ambrose this is idiotic. One of our 4 manufactured a shot that put us on the green and we were putting for birdie. If you are playing ambrose you can usually scramble out of even the worst spots.
A parkland course has one thing I like – no punishing rough – trees are a pain but you always find your ball and their is usually a mythical line out of the trees to get you were you need to go.
The course is a good mix of short and long. Par 5’s can be reached in 2 and some short par 4’s bring out the “open the shoulders beast” in you. The par 3’s are all short enough to attack.
All in all a course that is good to play and could be easy to score on once you know the lie of the land. We completed 18 without a bogie on the card, and 6 birdies. Minus our 9 handicap this should have put us in the prizes with a net 56 – not a chance – net 53 took it out. We won this tournament last year and took home a golf bag each. This year we took home some memories and a top up of the tan.
