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.