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. 

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. 

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 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 18^th all they had left in them was Kia Ora, hello/goodbye/be well. Maybe it was fitting after all.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.