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.
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.
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.
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.