Kingston Golf Club – Bottom of the lake

At the bottom (or top) of Lake Wakatipu. Kingston Golf Club is the most northerly of the clubs that make up the Southland golf district. Kingston is the southern gateway to the Queenstown Lakes district. Just under 50 km’s along the Devil’s Staircase from here will bring you into Queenstown.

I played here many moons ago when there were fences around the greens to keep the sheep at bay. I was surprised to see them gone and the course was in good condition.

We came across a full course with the annual sponsor’s tournament in play. We squeezed onto the course between the field. At the clubrooms, there were no scorecards in the honesty box. A friendly local on the course offered to go and find me one, but I settled on taking a photo of his card. We had a laugh at his score so far, as they headed off in front of us.

A straight forward short par 4 to start the round should boost your confidence. The par 4’s at Kingston are all around the 300-metre mark so quite accessible for good scoring.

An uphill par 3, number 2 was named after Michael Hills poor brother. A testing hole needing a solid shot to get you up to the green. But once up there the view back down towards the lake is remarkable.

The undulating mounds at the back of the course were an interesting feature going down the 3rd. The first of 2 par 5’s at 418 metres. A nice looking driving hole with a tricky green.

At “Ben Nevis” the 140 metre 6th we bumped into another of the tournament players who insisted we come to the clubhouse for a beer after our round. I was beginning to like the good people of Kingston.

The 7th was a tough driving hole with a narrowing fairway. What made it tougher was the weather that was galloping up the lake at us. A quick stop to hide under trees ensued whilst we waited for it to blow through.

I can offer some advice on the 8th, a short 288 metres, asking for a ripper off the tee. Don’t take your driver from the bag. An easy 7 iron will leave you far enough back to get over the substantial tree guarding the green. I took the driver.

The clubhouse was full of people when we finished. I sometimes forget to de cloth my cap when entering the clubrooms. It is a tradition to remove your headgear in clubrooms through the land. Golf people are quick to give you notice, by looking at you and tapping their heads. In Scotland that is code for your mental/crazy.

The prize table was laden with prizes, for their biggest tourney of the year. The president came and introduced himself – we found out the club was born the same year as us ( me and the wife) 1968.

There was news of thousands of houses planned for the area and with this comes the fear that course may be taken from these good people. We met a few other local people and shared stories of great courses in the Southland area, including the deceased Oreti sands in Invercargill.

It turned out that one of the ladies in the room was a relative of the first-ever person to tee off at Oreti sands.

These clubrooms were full of a great bunch of people enjoying their big day. For me, another lucky day to play a local course which had been immaculately presented for the tournament.

The difficulty to get the community to look after the course year-round was raised. New people coming in to live but not utilizing the golf course. We can’t accept this fate, we need Kingston golf club to survive another 50 years. I’ll be back to play in the tournament next year proper. A Brilliant day out and a course worthy of being on the Best Nine Holes of New Zealand list.