Upgrades make picturesque course even better

Upgrades make pic turesque course even bet ter

Squeezed between State Highway 1 and Uretiti Beach, Waipu Golf Club is one of the most picturesque golf clubs in New Zealand. The links course has recently undergone an upgrade and now boasts 18 challenging but stunning holes.

WAIPU GOLF CLUB

3229 SH1 (between Waipu and Ruakaka turnoffs) Phone +64 9 432 0259 Website: www.waipugolfclub.org.nz Email: shop@waipugolf.co.nz

Officially ranked 29 in the top 50 golf clubs in New Zealand, and voted Northland Golf Club of the Year 2018 by Travel and Hospitality Awards! Links style course with breathtaking view of Bream Bay. Naturally sand based all-weather course with some challenging holes, testing rough and superb greens. Covered practice range. Golf clubs, trundlers and electric carts available for hire. Open 364 days of the year. Situated on State Highway 1 approximately 90 minutes from Johnson’s Hill Tunnel, Puhoi, and just 30 minutes south of Whangarei. Visitors welcome, but tee bookings are essential phone the Golf Shop 09 432 0259. Ocean View Cafe open from 8am Tuesday-Saturday. Great food, with a view. Discover the unique and inspirational story of one of the greatest migrations from the Highlands of Scotland, to Nova Scotia and then arriving in Waipu in the 1850s 36 The Centre Waipu 0510 Ph: (09) 432-0746 Open from 10am to 4pm www.waipumuseum.com OPEN 7 DAYS

Waipu Golf Club was founded in 1934 with original members playing on an elementary farmland course. Club manager Doug Gordon says that over the years it has moved a couple of times and transformed into the beautiful course it is today.

“I think we’d be very surprised at the condition of that original course,” Doug says.

The course now sits on 130 acres between Waipu and Ruakaka and Doug says the result of the latest upgrade is better golf for everyone.

“After over sixty years of parched fairways over the summer months, the Waipu Golf Club has spent around $1.4 million of donated money to fully irrigate all 18 fairways of the links course. This also included the renovation of five of those holes, including new bunkers and tees,” Doug says.

“It should open up the course to a lot of people who were formerly reluctant to play it because of the parched fairways.”

The upgrades were possible with the help of loyal club members and volunteers, one of the reasons Doug says the Waipu Club is special, but the wider community will see the dividends.

“Golf is a tough game at the best of times, let alone having to try and hit your ball off sand, but now we will have lush grassy fairways that make it so much easier to get good contact on the ball. With these improvements, we will see a lot more visitors from all over the country and internationally to the course. There is also huge potential to hold a national tournament of some degree, which is great for the club and the local economy,” Doug says.

Reviews of the golf course always mention the amazing views it boasts, and for very good reason. The picturesque sand dunes and bony ridges of sandstone look incredible against the blue Pacific Ocean in the bright summer sun.

Doug says some of the pine trees that blocked the views have been removed and now just a few mature trees that double as course hazards are dotted throughout the gentle undulating landscape.

“With the magnificent Whangārei Heads jutting out from the harbour to the Hen and Chicks Islands, coupled by the ancient Sail Rock, it all makes even the worst day out on the course so much more pleasurable,” Doug says.

The views are showcased from every hole and continue all the way back to the clubhouse and cafe that Doug says enhances any visit to the course.

“To sit back and admire the beauty while having a refreshment and a bite to eat seems to top off the whole experience nicely,” Doug says.