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Saturday, August 26, 2017

New Zealand GC

Today we made our way to New Zealand Golf Club, a course designed by Samuel "Mure" Fergusson in 1895.  It was one of the earliest courses in the area to be routed across dense heathland.


There are many similarities here to Swinley Forest from yesterday.  New Zealand is short, but being only a par 68, plays longer than the yardage suggests.


The 200 members here play foursomes for the majority of their golf, and like Swinley, do not have official handicaps, and are not part of the UK Golf Association.


The heather flanks both sides of most of the fairways, meaning if you are even slightly off line, you are spending a lot of time looking for your ball.


The bunkering is one of the strong features, rugged shaping, with heather growing on the edges making them challenging propositions.


Grant Nicholson blasts his way out of one of these bunkers, for a great par save.


The heather is very pretty, and a great feature, but it is brutal when you are caught in it.  It can only be cut once a year or else it dies, and the timing of that cut is just after it has flowered.  We are here in the time where it is at its thickest.  Great for photos, but not great for finding balls.


The club had a series of foursomes matches being played today, 18 holes in the morning, a good long lunch, and then another 18 in the afternoon.  Playing individual stableford in 4's, like we did, is certainly rarely seen here on a Saturday.  We let through 6 groups of foursomes matches during our round.  Dogs on the course are a common thing, the one above acting like an LPGA caddy, lining up the putt.


Whilst very pretty, and very tranquil, the course does not really possess any standout wow factor holes.  Andrew Cookes is preparing for his shot here on what is the signature hole, and the most impressive, the 16th.  This hole is a 205 yard par three, 180 yards of carry is required to avoid the field of heather in front of the green.


This is a closer view of the heather you need to carry.  Like many older courses, the women's tees did not provide a great advantage, and many very long carries over the heather are required.  This makes driving very difficult.  Sue Nicholson mentioned that she was not a fan of the heather to the Club Secretary Roger Marrett. He responded promptly in his proper English accent that "Heather is a bitch, and her sister Erica is no better".


 Again it was another very enjoyable experience, and we were made very, very welcome.  Gary Jones was determined to regain household bragging rights after Jenny's win yesterday.  He played beautifully, recording a fine 39 points.  His bid was undone however by his good friend Ian Paroissien, who played really steady golf, and took the win with 40 points.  Well done Ian.


This is a shot of the member lockers in the men's locker room.  You get your name painted on your locker, and then you get crossed out when you pass.  Yet another quirky thing here at New Zealand.

Tomorrow we head to our London reciprocal club Walton Heath, and play the Old Course there.

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