Category Archives: Southland

Riverton Golf Club – Southern Links in my troosers

Sunrise over Riverton
Honestly great value.

On the Riveria coast of Western Southland is Riverton. 30 minutes out of Invercargill. A seaside town with it’s own 9 holes of links.  A popular holiday spot with excellent beaches and an excellent golf course. 

An early start out on the coast we were expecting the empty car-park feeling once again. But no, there was a cross section of keen golfers all wrestling with bags to get out on this lovely Southland morning. 

Dew was our biggest hazard and with an unusually windless day on the coast it wasn’t shifting easily. A little bite to the air forced me into trousers for the round. I haven’t played in trousers for a very long time. I was dew a good round and maybe the trousers would be the catalyst for a low scoring day.

Troosers and no hat, uniform malfunction.

Fighting the dew and the bouncy greens made for tough scoring conditions. I managed to par the first, a 429 metre par 5. The trousers looked like a good choice.

Riverton is billed as links golf, mainly due to it being on the coast. The fairways undulated links-like but less trees would have made it more authentic. 

The trees would be welcomed on a windy day I am sure. This morning we had perfect conditions. The course was filling up with keen players onto all the holes with little regard for the formality of starting at the first. 

I had played 4 other Southland courses this week mainly without the distraction of fellow golfers. The influx of people spooked my game a little and I had to settle for no more pars until the 9th hole. 

Mind your language and the bull.

As with every coastal course that ever lived there is a hole called Seaward, which invariably heads towards the sea. I said this out loud to my playing mate, “why is it referencing bad language..?” “C- word” he thought he heard. “that’ll be what you shout if your ball ends up in the bull infested paddock running the length of the fairway.”

The 7th was stoke hole number 1 – 500 metres of par 5 with a small pond to catch your second shot. C-word was just about right.

There was another “Westward-Ho” on the card – the 2nd hole a short par 3 – presumably it faced west? It was a nice wee hole actually 115 metres and inviting off the tee. I had a 5 on here, Ho Ho Ho.

Links Golf on a good day.

Riverton Golf Club is a course to play on a good day. It has a nice feel of coastal golf. I am sure it is a busy wee place in the summer when the tourists flock here for the holidaying. It was my last course of the trip to the South this time around. I’m definitely heading back to finish off the other 19 Southland gems soon.

Winton Golf Club – CHAMPIONSHIP Quality in the Heart of the South

The town of Winton has 18 holes of Championship course in Central Southland. A marvellous and well-kept golf course, a good walking flat course, the greens were surprisingly excellent. 

Winton is a good walking course.

The opening nine holes had fairways presented to be quite wide and the rough wasn’t overly punishing so it made playing quite straightforward. The mature trees had to be watched of course. I only say this because I had good front nine only 4 over the card.

The back nine was punishing with narrow fairways, long rough ( or was that in my mind) I doubled the front nine form to be 8 over on the back nine – finishing right on handicap at 12 over the card. 

Easy to put the ball in the MIDDLE of the fairway

We played the course mainly alone until coming up 18 we met a few local gents ( in Swandris, if you don’t have one – get one) . Who took great pride in sharing a joke over our wayward tee shots. I haven’t met a Southlander who doesn’t find time for a yarn.

A more pricey honesty box situation due to the quality of the course and the full 18 holes on offer, but still a quarter of the price to find the same quality elsewhere in the country. Winton is a course you have to play if you find yourself in the area. The 16th was a canny wee number only 100 metres but ready to suck you in. 

The most expensive Honesty Box in the area worth every penny.

The hole naming committee at Winton maybe need to stay off the Speights whilst making decisions. There is usually a Westward Ho! ( heading west no doubt) We were confronted by the Colosseum on the 6th, alert and fearful of the pending Lions or Gladiators.

Come the back nine the committee were obviously in good spirits and bulletproof, Powerhouse and Dynamite so called 13 and 14. The 16th was Cassino which maybe a reference to the battle of Cassino in Italy, a cold and bloody affair where many New Zealand soldiers fought and were lost. Maybe they did get it right after all.

By the time we got to the 18th all they had left in them was Kia Ora, hello/goodbye/be well. Maybe it was fitting after all.

The last ahh Kia Ora
Finishing hole, Kia Ora! See you later Winton!

Nightcaps Golf Club – Nighty Night

A beautiful evening in Nightcaps

We were 20 minutes drive from Nightcaps and it was 5pm. The sun was due down at 7.30pm. It was an easy decision to zoom across for a quick 9 holes.

I know very little about Nightcaps, unless they involve whisky. A small town of 294, Wikipedia even records that is 165 males and 132 females. which added together is 3 more than the population? Obviously the counting was done by unscrupulous golfer, who’s score card didn’t quite add up to the actual number of shots.

We pulled up into the car park in a hurry to get on the course. There were 4 men standing around a flat deck Ute drinking Speights. I assumed they had just finished. Hellos were exchanged and I found out they were warming up before they took off. We jumped in front and took on the course.

Now Nightcaps golf course is 9 holes but they are one of only a few that actually have 2 distinct nines. The same greens of course but clever positioning of the tee boxes makes the challenge different on each nine. We played the back nine, because stroke hole 1 was on the front.

2 distinct 9 holes – with no 15th..

The 10th is a tough up hill 458 metre par 5 v’s the 330 metre par 4 1st. We might have picked the wrong 9! The view from the green when we got there was stunning as we looked across Western Southland. The Takitimu mountain range is a feature of this area and with 2 hours of sunlight left it looked incredible.

The gallery was excitable around the 2nd tee

Rural golf is gripping me this week. A near perfect setting as we weaved through the course. Plenty of dairy and freshly wrapped bails all ready for the coming winter.

Long Shadows up the 3rd/12th

We had to storm on through our round to miss the darkness that was coming. A bit of squinting into the sun was called for but the still night made for great conditions.

No time for BBQing tonight.

The tricky par 3 16th was followed by the pretty par 4 16th according to the course map on the back of the card.

The tricky par 3 actually 15th.

I have learned something tonight, to have respect for rural golf courses. They may not have paid green keepers and starters. But they have character and history that keeps communities together. Also they are never as easy as they seem. I could only muster 1 par on my card.

Where else would you be ? And we’ll be home in time for tea.
Rural Golf is all wrapped up in this blog!
Nighty Night Nightcaps I’m heading home for a Speights

Otautau Golf Club – Stay in the Rough.

First Honesty Box!

Otautau Golf Club is in the heart of rural Western Southland. 9 holes of golf that you can play twice for $10. This is true New Zealand country golf course action,

Otautau was our base whilst in the deep south. A great little rural town with a good pub. Blue cod and Bluff oysters were always on the menu and Speights was always on tap.

It was a lovely evening in Southland and a quick 9 holes seemed appropriate following our travels to get to this brilliant part of New Zealand. Otautau Golf Club is up a country track and on the hill at the back of the township.

It was a deserted part of the world as we pulled up into the car park. I had pre organised cash for my wallet on this trip knowing fine well that honesty boxes would be the dominant payment method. Cash dispatched into the envelope and the envelope slid into the slot. Off we trotted to the first tee.

No pay-wave credit card payment available.

I was excited to be on a golf course in the South, I love this part of the world. The countryside reminds me of Scotland and the people too. Unpretentious hearty welcoming people come from the south.

As we bashed off the first tee a man appeared from the bushes, ” g’day, crackin’ night eh?” We struck up a bit of banter and the local green-keeper(?) advised us to aim for the trees the grass was shorter in the rough than on the fairways! They were a bit behind on the maintenance schedule. He wasn’t wrong.

Rural golf tonight in the South

I wasn’t expecting championship quality and we didn’t get it. Expectations were met with a beautiful setting and a quiet round of golf with the whole course to ourselves.

You’ll work out I like an appropriately named hole. The 4th/13th was called Baldy, who knows why? There wasn’t anyone to ask. But what a great name for a hole.

Teeing off Baldy.

The 5th/14th had 2 names one for the 5th one for the 14th. Dogleg and Elbow respectively. When in doubt name the dog leg for what it is. You could tell real people were responsible for this golf club.

Round the corner.

I don’t know how many members are playing at Otautau, not many I was told in the pub. Rural golf courses all around New Zealand are only there thanks to the army of volunteers who look after them. Dedicating their time and effort to keep them alive. My $10 might pay for a pint for one of the volunteers hopefully.

The greens were a little inconsistent

There was enough challenging holes around Otautau to keep us engaged as the evening turned to dusk. The final 3 were a treat. Will this course be here in 5 years time, it will be hard to see how it won’t end up as farmland. Good luck to the good people of Otautau.

Cracking 7th Hole

Drummond Golf Club – a wee Cracker

A brilliant 9 holes here.

Drummond Golf Club is a stunner! 9 holes of immaculate golf course in the middle of Western Southland . Half an hour north of Invercargill. The more I got directions in the south I realised the universal language of distance is, ” 20 minutes out of Gore”

Following the ruggedness of Otautau last night my expectations were in check as we rose early to miss the heavy traffic on the way to Drummond.

Drummond castle in Scotland is brilliant and only a short drive from the famous Gleneagles. Which is relatively irrelevant but maybe Drummond Golf Club in the middle of rural Southland would stand up in the golfing world as a point of interest?

Pulling up to the car less car park it was a magical Southland morning. Crisp fresh air and a dew shimmering over the course as the sun rose into the big sky.

Early start waiting for the sun to dry up the dew.

On very flat topography and amongst well established trees the course looked like a wee cracker.

$10 on hand to slip into the honesty box I noticed Drummond was offering online payment options also. Very wise in these modern times.

We moved to the 1st and realised we were not alone. It was hedge trimming day at Drummond. What a treat. The smell of fresh cut hedge was all around us, coupled with the perfect cloudless day I could be falling for Drummond.

There is nothing like the smell of fresh hedge in the morning!

Rural courses are maintained by volunteers. The work that goes in to keep these courses in order for their local communities is tremendous. You can tell Drummond Golf Club members love their golf course.

What you will notice about rural courses is that the greens are small. Not designed to punish your wayward iron shots, but in fact to help reduce the overall maintenance. The greens here are in great condition.

Following a clever dogleg to open the nine, you are faced with a longish par 5 and then head back toward the club house with a short par 4. By this point the dew was gone and the course looked amazing.

Number 3 back up to the club house.
A quick trim up before teeing off the 6th

When we got to the 6th and our hedge trimmer was busy at work on the incredible expanse of hedge which defines the run down the 6th and 7th. We had so much fun paying homage to the god of hedges at this point. We prayed for a draw off the tee and for forgiveness if we couldn’t manage it. We were truly blessed as one of our balls bounced off the hedge and back onto the fairway.

For what you are about to receive…

On the 8th tee we met a green keeper who had a yarn with us. He was interested in where we from and what brought us to Drummond this morning. We told our stories, I asked what he thought of Southland golf. He was passionate about the region and the game. He hoped we would see Drummond in a favourable light.

I certainly did, now a favourite of mine as a nine hole golf course. I don’t know why really. Exceeded expectations, the smell of the hedge, the Southland air, who knows.

I told him about my goal to play every course in this land. “good to have a purpose” he said in true understated Southland style.

Our green-keeper mate asked if I had played Oreti Sands before it closed? No sadly. Shame that was apparently some place, the southern most 18 holes of golf in NZ. They tried to save it but they are running dogs on it now. I need to push on and accelerate this journey so as not to miss any of these great New Zealand golf courses.

8th Tee

Drummond – I am coming back to do it all again, I did fall for you. A perfect way to start the day!

I was 7 over the card but it was the course that won the day and the imposing hedge row.