Mataura Golf Club is a flat 9 hole course. With impressive hedgerows and established trees. The recent rain had subsided enough to get the greenkeeper out. I was fortunate again on my Southland tour to get the best of conditions.

A quiet day at Mataura Golf Club, there was only one other group out on the course. The Clubrooms looked good from through the window. Although the practice putting green obviously wasn’t used much.

Just over 5,500 metres for the 2 rounds of nine, the course is no pushover. 2 par 5’s and 2 par 3’s on each nine make it a par 72.

There is a neat little bridge to help you cross a gully in the 3rd fairway. It was dry but I wondered at the time if maybe there was some flooding in the area that would change the dynamic of the hole.

Following the recent flooding event in Mataura and surrounding districts, they were in a state of emergency which certainly would have covered the golf course. This was the biggest flood seen here since 1978.

My thoughts go out to the people of the area and I hope the recovery is swift for you all.

The 4th par 3 is …oh no .. Westward Ho at 139 metres on the 2nd nine it turns into “Good Hit” 171 metres.

Sponsored by a local Windscreen company – clever marketing with a car park close enough to the course to generate some business eventually.

After “Good Hit” came “High Tension” due to the overhead cables. They certainly came into play with your approach to the green.

There was a Bonanza on the card, not quite as common as Westward Ho. But why Bonanza? A great western show in the 60’s but what has it got to do with golf course names?

I enjoyed the last towards the clubhouse, called “Clubhouse” and “Last Chance” A par 5 needing clever placement of your drive to get a shot at the green, even laying up needed some thought to avoid the encroaching trees.

I found a surprise package at Mataura Golf Club. Surprisingly well ordered and surprisingly mature as a nine-hole rural golf course. The fairways around Mataura are quite wide and inviting. The greens were fine and flat.

Can it compete with Drummond for Southland’s best nine holes? Not quite, but I suggest if you are in Mataura bring the clubs and get out to enjoy the course.

Arriving at Tokanui Golf Club you realise you are about to “take on” the course. Located on the majestic southern coast with views out to the southern ocean and over the Mataura Estuary. Tokanui is the most southerly golf course on the mainland.

Not far from the most southerly part of New Zealand, Slope Point is an awfully exposed location. This course comes with its own unique challenge. Reading from local sources, “the course is spectacular and plays differently in a stiff wind.” Today was a wind day so taming Tokanui was not going to be easy.

This is classic links golf, no tress just open fairways and wind. The
1st was as an opening shot over the road that separates the 2 parts of the course.

Your tee shot is out to a humps and hollows fairway, to get you started on this little links beauty. The 2nd was a 150-metre par 3 which today required a well-hit hybrid into the wind to get up to the green.

I gave up trying to stand my bag on its legs. With the wind, it was getting blown over far too easily.

Going up the dogleg 3rd, an uphill Par 5 of 362 metres it was the longest hole on the course. It was called “Toi Tois” – now here is the educational part of the story. At first, I thought it was Toes Toes – names after Toetoes Bay which is roughly where we were. But it was actually Toi Tois – was this hole sponsored by the fine wine called Toi Toi? Unlikely I thought.

Eventually, I found the Toi Toi tree – the only sign of flora and fauna on the course. So I took a picture to remind me of the Toi Toi tree…. This is not a Toi Toi.

Check the wine bottle label to see a lovely whispy grass which is the Toi Toi.

I then read an article about the Toe Toe grass, often misspelt Toi Toi. So was this hole named mocking the spelling? OR maybe it should have been “Toi Toi Toi” – a cry heard at the theatre to wish an actor good luck, similar to “break a leg” – I am going with this explanation until the hole naming committee chairman corrects me otherwise.

I needed all the luck I could get hitting into the wind. “Toi Toi Toi !!” I cried bent over into the wind.

“Norwester” and “South Pole” were 2 holes with names fitting for the occasion.

There had been a greenskeeper out and about just prior to me teeing off. Not another foolish soul on the course in this wind. One thing I noticed is the mower did not need any kind of catcher. The wind took the clippings and shared them with the district.

I enjoyed the “Roadhole” number 6, only 277 metres, with a challenging tee shot over the corner of the road to an elevated green.

The 7th, 8th and 9th were back across the road to finish the blustery round of golf and back in the car to find a bottle of that wine. The pleasure of playing Tokanui Golf Course was still whistling in my ears.

The card here has a grainy picture of golfers on the ninth green, but also a sponsors message from the Tokanui Tavern pointing me in the right direction.

If I were you put this course on the bucket list. It definitely makes the Top 10 Nine Hole Golf Courses of New Zealand so far.

It was club day at Hedgehope Golf Club. A lively bunch were out for the pre-Christmas loud shirt day out. People gathering quickly in the small car park. We shared a bit of banter with a man opening clubrooms and we got out quickly ahead of the pack.

The night before I had gathered directions on how to find the Hedgehope Golf Club. Asking in the local Speight’s house how far is it from here? “Oh, it’s 15 minutes out of Winton. “

Still none the wiser as I was not in Winton. Heading to Winton to find Hedgehope Golf Club, the weather was dry and overcast. Southland had experienced a lot of rain in the last month, good for growth but hard for local communities to keep their golf courses in good playing condition.

As it was club day we welcomed the sound of the mower tidying up the greens and fairways. We got the best of the conditions and the moisture dried off quickly.

The 1st hole heads down along the roadside, a par 3 to get you going, and then across the road for the next 2 holes. “Why did the Psychic Golfer cross the road?” … “To get to the other side”….

“Moonshine” was the 2nd a sweeping risk or reward par 4 at 263 metres. My hole of the day; a challenging drive to cut the corner and chase your ball up towards an elevated green.

After finishing on the 3rd – the longest hole on the course at 324 metres. It was back across the road for a short par 3, Glen Coe. One of my favourite parts of Scotland, an amazing heather laden valley.

There were a few interesting holes on Hedgehope Golf Course including doglegs, including “dogleg” which was a dogleg.

On the back nine, number 5 “Dogleg” is renamed, number 14 “Tractor Shed” a great observational name. I assume the tractor shed was built in the same location when the course came into being.

With mature trees all around and a tidy wee nine-holes, it was a pleasure to play at this community golf course. There were traditional club rooms which I am sure over the years has seen a few interesting gatherings.

Dating back to 1968 the club is a great example of golf in rural Southland. I left with a sense of pride that golf still keeps us all together, with a happy group of golfers out as a community enjoying life.

If you are looking for a breathtaking location with views to die for, you’ve found it.
A friendly man in the clubhouse gave me good instructions about the course layout. I had played Te Anau Golf Club some 20 years ago – before the accident. *

I could not remember the hole by hole layout but I’ll never forget the views. It is situated at the bottom of Lake Te Anau -or is it the top of the lake, surely the lake is flat and doesn’t have a top or bottom?

The 1st is a par 5 on the lakeside, a flat sweeping hole. I lost sight of my ball as I drove off the first tee. I was mesmerized by lake Te Anau. There are 2 fairway bunkers to catch that first mistimed tee shot of the day.
I had not a care in the world where my ball went as I drunk in the hot mesmerising landscapes all around.

Interestingly, the 2nd is also a par 5 along the lakeside. I was glad to see the back of 2 long holes this early and good to play them when my fitness is still in check.

2 par 5’s and a short par 3 3rd was a good opportunity to score well early. A great front nine is completed when you stand up on the 10th tee heading back to the clubhouse. A shorter than short par 5 at 386 metres and surely it is birdie time. The views from the tee across Lake Te Anau and out at the tip of the Fiordland National Park are the highlight of this course. The Murchison Mountains and Mount Luxmore dominate the skyline.

Number 10 isn’t as easy as the card suggests, stroke hole 18, with a tight fairway and even tighter approach to the raised green. Miss on either side and you will be glad of a solid par. This would be my hole of the day and onto the best golf holes in New Zealand list.

The 12th is a cracking hole, Te Anau is not the manicured course it may have been in the past, but the 12th shows off the location which is the USP for this course. Although I say that, every hole has a little bit of magic, with Lake Te Anua on the doorstep.

I’m a fan of a tee box back in the trees, even better if it is up a hill into the back of the trees. It is nice to leave your bag down below and push on up the hill with a driver in your hand.

Do you take a spare ball or mid-iron just case? You could find out of bounds or maybe the drive looks dangerous and you waive the white flag with an iron? I usually sneak another ball in my pocket and grab the 6 iron. ( with no actual intention of using it)

I tend to perform well from these situations, is it the extra oxygen fired into your ventricles as you suck in some big gulps up the hill? When you get to the top, are you on an adrenaline high, putting extra metres on your drive?

On the 13th tee, marvelling at the vista, blood pumping through my chest and arms. I was coiled like a spring on a cold morning, I unleashed the drive of the day. No need for the extra ball!

Te Anau Golf Club should be on every man and woman’s golfing radar. The course is in okay condition, well presented but in need of a little extra love. BUT location location location is the winner here. You will not be disappointed to spend 4 hours of your golfing life on this golf course. It will appear comfortably in New Zealand’s Top Golf Courses thanks to the part of the world into sits in.

*the birth of my kids*