Kaikoura Golf Club 110 years young .

By Neville Idour

Kaikoura Golf Club has an almost iconic status within New Zealand.

This is, in no small way, because of its annual professional-amateur event dating back to 2001.

The tournament, which often boasts a field with many of New Zealand’s leading professionals, has not missed a beat since 2001, even beating covid-19 in 2020.

The germination of the event came from a meeting with Jim Cleland of New Zealand Golf at the Taupo Workingmen's Club about the Holden scramble and pro-am.

The idea was floated to the club committee and, as is often the case, there was some hesitancy with more information requested. An enthusiastic club member was asked to help and so the process began.

The benefits of a close knit supportive community were soon revealed. First stop was the popular Lobster Inn and Motel which accepted the sponsorship opportunity.

So the Lobster Inn Pro-Am was born and, within two days, 27 sponsors had been signed on, such was the buy in.

In the early days there was no shortage of teams. However there were not enough professionals, so a few low handicap members filled the gaps as ``pros''.

The first event was a great success with the start of the club’s famous “taste of Kaikoura meal''.

The mouth waters as it included crayfish, fish, paua, mussels and salad. I still remember fondly playing in the event some years ago.

Eventually the meal, which was first held at the Memorial Hall and then, as numbers grew, at the Kaikroua harness racecourse, was stopped because of the huge numbers.

Now a platter is served to each team after golf concludes on the Saturday.

Also, the platter includes the addition of venison pies thanks to the so-called ``hunter gatherers'' who have contributed to the platters over the years.

The club has a rich 110-year history beginning with its birth on the April 9, 1911, at a meeting in the Wallace home in Beach Road. The late George Wallace, a surgeon dentist, became president, then later on secretary.

The reverend A N Freyberg, the vicar of St Peters from 1908 to 1912, was the driving force in the formation of the club.

At the time the population of Kaikoura was just 350. Today it is around 2400.

The club opened with 39 members from a wide cross section of the town. Today the membership is a healthy 220. The initial nine-hole course of 2455 metres was on South Bay Domain, then the headquarters of the Kaikoura Racing Club. The famous Kaikoura Trotting Club was formed in 1914.

The golf course, which was laid out around the domain, criss-crossed the highway and had one unusual feature. The eighth hole was blind with the tee near the totalisator building. The blind green was up over the highway (imagine that today) into a depression. For obvious reasons it was called Waterloo. Visitors loathed it and not many members mastered it.

The ninth tee was aptly named Ocean View because it was on a knoll above the green. The temptation to assist the odd ball to score a hole in one proved too much for some pranksters. Strange tales still linger in the folklore of the club. Apart from those holes the course lacked character.

Therefore in 1935 a new nine-hole course, along with a completed clubhouse, was opened on the present site near the Kowhai River.

In June 1957 membership was closed until it dropped below 150 because it was too busy. This was gradually alleviated with the addition of three more holes in each of the years 1958, 1960 and 1963 which produced a 5166-metre 18 holes.

Increasing membership in 1966 forced the club to build a new clubhouse at its current location to accommodate the extra numbers. This was opened on April 13, 1968. The course layout has undergone changes, notably in 1977, with other minor tweaks in later years, all with the object of improving this picturesque links course.

As can be imagined there are many tales to tell by past presidents, life members and patrons.

A highlight for Ken Pitman was the building of the clubhouse in 1968 as each year there was a draw and two lucky members were repaid their debentures. Some winners, however, donated back their wins to help with the club’s finances.

Mary Gordon said: “The old clubhouse was a lot of fun. We did lots of catering ourselves with plenty of cooking outside.

``In big tournaments soup was carted around in the back of a vehicle to various spots on the course. The men did the catering for the annual ladies' tournament which produced much hilarity.”

Peter Harvey, a member since 1965 and a winner of 23 club championships, is still on a single figure handicap even though now in his 70s. Along with Carol Stove, a winner of 15 ladies silver championships, these are great achievements.

One rather infamous tale is of the ``Grouper Blood mob'' which apparently loved to have fun.

Incidentally Grouper Blood was Dick Lee’s home made gin mixed with campari. One story tells of Austin Smith flaking out on the third hole.

Lee and Dick Telfer thought he had died, so they dragged him over to a shady tree and left him there intending to pick him up later.

Fortunately he came around and was later carried back to the clubhouse in a vehicle.

Many great characters and loyal members from the past like these have been honoured with life memberships.

Gordy Scott (Scott's Drapery) and John Ingram (Dalgety's Store) always had a golf lesson on a Monday with brooms at the ready outside their shops so they could sweep their store frontages at the same time. I wonder if their brooms were their club of choice for the lessons.

The longest drive in history was probably recorded by Buster Miller when playing the old 18th back towards the old clubhouse with Bryan Seddon.

Miller’s ball went out of bounds and landed in a horse float on the way to the Nelson races. The driver, who he knew, came back through Kaikoura, presented Buster with his ball, declaring he had hit the club’s longest drive.

Jimmy Jacobs liked getting in the kitchen where he would make wonderful paua patties with his secret recipe of “a little bit of this and that.”

Another member, with a short fuse, attached a hub cap of all things, to the bottom of his worn out bag. After a bad shot he fired his five iron into the bag and it came flying back out and hit his nose. Ouch.

This easy walking course offers a choice of two tees. Yellow plays 5258 metres and blue 5793 metres. The course is no pushover with doglegs and three 470-plus metre par fives. The green fees are a snitch at $25 affiliated and $35 non affiliated.

The dates for the 21st Anniversary 2021 Hunting and Fishing and Friends Pro-Am are October 9 and 10.

In next month's issue of this publication we will look back over the 20 years to date and preview the 21st edition which is sure to again attract many of New Zealand’s best players.