Paraparaumu Beach and Wairakei
As seen from the sixth tee, the star at Paraparaumu Beach is its crumpled landscape, which is some of the most ideal ground for golf to be found in the world.
For a country blessed with so many natural wonders – miles of unspoiled coastline, clear blue lakes, snow-capped mountains, rolling valleys – New Zealand deserves better golf courses.
Until that day arrives, and it will, there are only two courses guaranteed to please every far traveling golfer – Paraparaumu Beach GC and Wairakei International. A third course, Titirangi GC in Auckland, is a solid MacKenzie course but its slow start might leave several golfers unimpressed.
Both Paraparaumu and Wairakei are on the North Island of New Zealand. Beyond that the courses could hardly be more different.
Paraparaumu Beach is a links course that measures 6,600 yards from the tips but plays shorter when it is at its best (fast and firm). The greens are small and are often elusive targets in the wind (remember: you are a one hours drive from ‘Windy’ Wellington). The course is less than 1/2 mile from the ocean. Alex Russell, fresh from his success at Royal Melbourne (East), was the designer in 1946. To his credit, the course is vastly different to the Melbourne course, as the property is vastly different – he did not try to force his ‘mark’ on either piece of property.
The strength of Paraparaumu Beach is its collection of one shot holes (the second and sixteenth are the equal of the world renowned fifth) and its medium and long par fours. The weakness is its three shot holes – all three are reachable at around the same 500 yard mark and fall over the only dull ground on the course. Otherwise, Paraparaumu is a neat course that charms the golfer with a series of original and unique golf holes, as we see below.
Holes to Note
First hole, yards;
Second hole, yards;
Fourth hole, yards;
Fifth hole, yards;
As seen from behind the fifth green, there is always a sense of relief when the golfer sees his tee ball come to rest on the plateau putting surface. Otherwise, his recovery shot is often times from below eye level of the green.
Eighth hole, yards;
This view from behind the eighth green highlights one of the course's primary defenses: a push-up green that is moderate in size and that features short tight grass on its banks that feed balls away, leaving the golfer with a variety of tricky recovery shots.
Eleventh hole, yards;
Thirteenth hole, yards; The thirteenth hole is the most photographed hole in New Zealand. It is a massive par four of 440 yards played downhill over rolling terrain. So rolling in fact that on the same, calm day, the author hit a three wood into the green in the morning round and a nine iron into the green in the afternoon session. As the golfing gods would have it, the author birdied the hole after the three wood approach.
A mighty hole, the thirteenth is one of the reasons that Paraparaumu Beach appeared on GOLF Magazine's World Top 100 ranking for many years.
Sixteenth hole, yards;
The narrow but deep sixteenth green is difficult to hit, especially with any wind. Though bunkerless, it is a prime example of how to construct a sub-150 yard hole that is still vexing.
Seventeenth hole, yards;
Another sterling two shotter, the seventeenth fairway swings right around some low lying dunes.