Michael Goldstein — the golfing globetrotter

By Neville Idour

Michael Goldstein, well known for his involvement with the New Zealand Open since 2013, is a quite remarkable young man. Golfer Pacific was able to go behind the scenes with this self deprecating passionate globetrotting golf fan.

So where did it all begin?

“I was brought up in Christchurch. Played golf at Russley. Just for fun. I wasn’t very good. I didn’t play very much through university. I played other sports and then after university I was working as a lawyer and hated it. So one night, after a lot of drinks, my buddy and I decided to play golf every day for a year.

“So we drove around the world playing golf every day for a year.”

Where did the golf take him?

“We drove around New Zealand, then Aussie which got us through to May. Then we flew to the USA, bought a car and played every day. Next it was off to the UK and Ireland and more of the same. On the way back we went through the Middle East, then Aussie again and finally in New Zealand.”

You must have played many famous courses?

“We were very fortunate. We were writing a blog, so many people in the golfing world reached out and said come play golf with us. Meeting so many golfers, it was like an introduction to the game. I didn’t know a lot having played mainly the one golf course and occasionally with my mates.”

To do that you must have been a reasonably good golfer?

Caption: Askernish Golf Club in Scotland which Michael Goldstein described as one of his favourites.

“Before we did that I played about six times a year and my handicap was about seven. So I learned a lot playing about a zillion shots and got a bit better. It was a good learning curve with different types of grasses and style of courses.

“I was 25 years old at the time and at the end of that I thought I might stay working in golf. So I went to China for a year and worked in the industry over there with golf architects and developers.

``I worked with Darius Oliver for the year and we were trying to get the Chinese to get their golf courses designed by good architects and show them what good golf was like. It was such a new sport and some of the courses being built were not as good as they might be.”

Goldstein’s next revelation beggars belief.

”Tom Doak built this amazing course in China but it never got opened. It was on an island in Haiko. There was a problem with the government permits and consenting. There was a team of people who worked there for up to two years. A pretty tough experience for them. While there was a lot of growth in golf there until 2012 it hasn’t been the same in the last decade.”

What do you think of Darius Oliver’s influence at The Hills?

``I really like The Farm par three course. It is one of the most natural golf experiences in the greater Queenstown region. It is just seamless between The Hills and the natural contours. Arrowtown is a bit like that too.

“It was then in 2012 that John Hart and Michael Hill announced a new tournament as a pro-am. I read about it in the newspaper so wrote to them that day and said it was a great idea and I want to be a part of it.“

So what happened next?

``A week later I left China and was in Auckland working with them. It was the first week of January, 2012. I said I love golf, I like what you are doing. I think the tournament is a great way of rebuilding our New Zealand Open and also showcasing Queenstown. They took me on. I was learning, in fact to be honest we were all kind of learning.

“John and Michael had extensive backgrounds in sport, but as for running a golf tournament it was a bit of a whirlwind for the first year as it all came together in about four months.

``I tried my hardest to get them to sack me (joke) but they kept me on for the next year. I had so much fun that first year and didn’t take it too seriously. There were only about four or five of us trying to put on a golf tournament, host the sponsors and get all the players. Sponsors were turning up to do their thing so it was all quite new.”

Goldstein worked as contractor for the second year in 2013 and again in 2014. Then in 2015 he and partner Mel Gimblett set up a contract to bring all the event management services under one umbrella, known as The Clubhouse.

The first event under that umbrella was in 2016. However when covid hit, Goldstein said: “We changed our lifestyle and stopped the business and moved out of Auckland to Galloway near Alexandra. So the event is now run under Millbrook Tournaments which is great.”

While The Clubhouse is no longer the official event management organiser, Gimblett was still very much involved in the golf operations and the event experience. At this year’s event Goldstein was there in a supportive role not only for Gimblett but also the tournament.

How much golf are you playing now?

“Not a lot here in New Zealand. Maybe six times a year.”

Why? Is he not enjoying it enough?

``No. I love it. My hobby now is travelling to play golf. I try to travel twice a year to play the great golf courses of the world.”

Where have you played?

``Last year I went to Melbourne, then France, Holland and England. A couple of trips then come back to the real world where I don’t really play much.

“I’ve probably played about 70 of the top 100 courses in the world. I’ve played about 700 golf courses.”

Which ones standout?

``The great courses are pretty special but St Andrews is my favourite. North Berwick would not be far behind, Prestwick is another. I have been lucky to play the great courses in the USA which are pretty special too.

Caption: Michael Goldstein (right) with friend Jamie Patton at St Andrews golf course in Scotland.

``In New Zealand it is Paraparaumu. I have also recently played Te Arai which was awesome and a nice walk. I’m a great fan of natural links courses with benefits of firm, fast fairways and natural rough which is my passion.”

So where has the focus been since closing The Clubhouse?

``I have been working in motorsport the last couple of years so that is why I haven’t been so involved with golf. I have been running the World Rally Championship event in Auckland. That has been most of my work but I do a bit of work with New Zealand Golf and work in the area of the tourism industry and also around facilities as well.”

In what way?

``Changes with golf courses, mergers or move some of their land. Such as Frankton (Queenstown) which I haven’t been involved with. There is going to be another traffic lane so NZTA (New Zealand Transport Agency) has acquired the necessary land. So there is an opportunity for golf to benefit from that rather than lose.

``Obviously the NZTA has to pay a lot of money for the land so everyone in the golf industry wants to see that money support Frankton Golf Club. That is a good example of opportunities that present themselves.”

Goldstein is now using his experience to be involved in the presentation of major events like the World Rally. He says he is getting older. He is 37.

Reflecting on his one year world trip playing golf he is happy to express his gratitude for the support he received in Australia.

“They were very supportive of us. Golfer Pacific really helped our trip. Australian Golf Digest also did. Back then the publicity kept us going because we were flying by the seat of our pants. We tried to fund ourselves by writing some articles every month for Australian Golf Digest and also some for Links Magazine in the USA. My buddy liked writing but financially it wasn’t the most successful strategy. We needed to be entrepreneurial to try and play every day because it was expensive travelling the whole time.”

Currently, Goldstein is a member at Royal Wellington and Omakau. Omakau is my local.

Omakau is an extremely good nine holer with oodles of character, variety and contours. We ended our time together chatting about golf courses in Christchurch and Dunedin. He felt Dunedin had all the variety that Christchurch somewhat lacked but was looking forward to seeing the completely revamped Shirley Links at the Christchurch Golf Club. Don’t be surprised if he is seen at the 2024 New Zealand Open reprising his short term role this year of assisting with hosting. If golf can be in the blood it certainly is with Michael Goldstein.