Reciprocal Impossible! – Wanganui Golf Club – Belmont Links
Rothley Park members Nick & Sonya Viney recently took advantage of our most distant reciprocal arrangement and visited the Wanganui Golf Club on the North Island of New Zealand and were rewarded by fabulous hospitality and a thoroughly enjoyable golfing challenge. Read their story….
“Arriving at Queenstown on the South Island in late January we had originally planned to be near Wanganui around the 13th of February but being a little ahead of schedule we put a call in to the Club on Saturday 11th asking if we could play the following day, a very friendly lady answering from the pro-shop accommodated and also greeted us when we arrived the next day. This turned out to be Lady Captain for the past 10 years, Carron Thompson who welcomed us warmly, duly provided us with clubs (2000’s vintage!) and sent us off down the first fairway in a stiff breeze with beautiful sunshine.
Belmont Links is described by the 350 members as “Hybrid Linksy” with glimpses of the Tasman Sea, some fairly deep and pot style black sand bunkers mixed into some fairly steep hilly climbs, elevated tees and beautiful Macrocarpa and Norfolk Pine trees it’s easy to see why.
The Club established in 1894 is ranked in the top 15 courses in New Zealand and has hosted many prestigious competitions including the National Open seven times and prides itself on its true running magnificent greens, amazingly presented and well looked after by only two green keeping staff !
After play we were welcomed in the impressive Clubhouse (built in 2003 after a fire in the original building) by the Men’s Captain Wayne Luxton and his playing partners for the day who were enjoying a beer or three ! Wayne is now in his 3rd year as Captain and told us about the spirit at the club and how many members help out to keep the place running (it only has 5 employed staff)
The Club was delighted to receive the small mementos from Rothley Park that we took with us and were immediately given pride of place on display behind the bar !
Other than a round of drinks, on the day we paid for nothing and had we known we could even have parked the motorhome in the carpark overnight, something that the club does normally as an extra revenue stream ($15NSD per night or free if you pay for a round of golf)
In summary a very enjoyable golf course and hospitality second to none, if any RPGC Members are visiting New Zealand we couldn’t recommend a visit to Wanganui Golf Club highly enough… Great Job Robin for finding this one !
If you wish to read more about Wanganui Golf Club there are some of their official Club Brochures in the Rothley Park Clubhouse.
