Waverley GC

[Kevin Pallier]

I had heard a bit about Waverley golf club but couldn’t find much about it on here.
 
Not to be confused with Waverley Country Club in Portland, Oregon – I’m talking about the track in NZ which IMO is the best value golf I have come across to date in the World. $20NZD or $1.67 per hole surely takes some beating!
 
The course is 5min outside the Waverley township that is a small county village in the South Taranaki region about 1.5hrs (110 km) SE of New Plymouth. It was designed by British expat Ernie Southerden in 1965. Ernie was born in Rye and leant his golf there before emigrating to NZ just after WWII. He played a couple of Open Championships but is renowned for winning 3 NZ PGAs. He was the club professional at Napier golf course for 40+ years and designed a few golf courses including Taupo (Centennial) but Waverley is his gift to golf - a gem of a course.
 
Waverley is natural and raw based on undulating land formed by sand that had been blown in from the sea less than 5km away. Don’t expect manicured fairways over 300 sheep help keep the grass down besides the odd mowing. The sheep don’t go on the greens, and the greensites were pretty good with a lot of false fronts.
 
Reminds me of some gem of courses in the UK Royal North Devon springs to mind!
 
Tom Doak give’s it a 6 on his scale but I reckon it’s a 7 because:
 6 = A very good course, definitely worth a game if you're in town, but not necessarily worth a special trip to see. It shouldn't disappoint you.
7 = An excellent course, worth checking out if you get anywhere within 100 miles. You can expect to find soundly designed, interesting holes, good course conditioning and a pretty setting, if not necessarily anything unique to the world of golf
 
Waverley is definitely worth checking if you are anywhere near 120 miles (ie: Taupo / Paraparaumu) and is worth a special trip to see IMO.
 
Kikuyu  = Par 72 5537m or 6055y. 4 P5s / 4 P3s. Beware of the sheep pats!

[Kevin Pallier]

1 = Panorama P5 (438m / 479y)
 
A gentle rolling straight-away opener from an elevated tee

 
The sheep are a constant

 
Reasonably sized green with OOB long

 
Look back to clubhouse and tee right in front of it

[Thomas Dai]

Splendid! Looking forward to seeing more.
Good to see the best mowers in golf in use.
Atb


Later edit - excellent drone video of the course (shame about the hammy voiceover) - [size=78%]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F7_NSdp8aaM[/size]

[Kevin Pallier]

2 = The Nest P4 (310m / 339y)
 
Cross into another paddock a groovy hole, a slight dogleg left downhill

 
To a green with a false front

 
Looking back to the tee

[Kevin Pallier]

3 = Lake Farm P4 (320m / 350y)
 
Downhill dogleg right

 
 
To a green benched into another hill

 
 
Looking back to the tee

[Kevin Pallier]

4 = Terraces P4 (305m / 333y)
 
Slightly downhill then uphill P4

 
That moves a little bit to the right - love the movement in the land

[Kevin Pallier]

5 = Southerden P3 (165m / 180y)
 
The first of the P3’s downhill

 
 
To an exposed green

 
That has little fallaways

[Kevin Pallier]

6 = Devils Elbow P4 (295m / 322y)
 
From the back tees a blind shot over hill

 
Downhill then uphill to a green near the 5^th

[Tommy Williamsen]

It's built on sand but I don't see and bunkers.

[Kevin Pallier]

Tommy


There are a few exposed areas where the ground has eroded and there's sandy waste areas


I think its devoid of any normal bunkers as I believe they would take too much effort, time and money to maintain. That and I'm led to believe its on land that's a farm for sheep first and foremost and golf course second.

[Thomas Dai]

Reminds me of a combination of Llandrindod Wells and Machynlleth only located 12,000 miles further south. Oh for one of those Transporter machines from Star Trek.
Atb

[Kevin Pallier]

7 = Canyon P4 (358m / 391y)
 
A hole that goes downhill

 
Moving left then right – with exposed sand scrapes

 
Then a well positioned greensite – I really liked this hole

[Kevin Pallier]

8 = Kennels P3 (140m / 153y)
 
An angled P3

 
To a green with some nice fallaways

 
A groovy P3

[Kevin Pallier]

9 = Sunny Jim P5 (400m / 437y)
 
A straight slightly uphill P5

 
To a small target

 
Probably my least favourite hole on the course

[Kevin Pallier]

10 = Bali Hai P4 (305m / 334y)
 
A cool hole – diagonal drive across the fence line back into the main paddock

 
Uphill to a green in front of the clubhouse looking back down the rumpled fairway

[Kevin Pallier]

11 = Racecourse P4 (335m / 366y)
 
At the back of the clubhouse (careful where you park your car) a straightaway drive

 
Uphill to a skyline green

 
With views across to Mt Taranaki (with clouds formed around it)



Looking back down the fairway

[Kevin Pallier]

12 = Tom Thumb P4 (300m / 328y)

My favourite hole – you want a straight drive to get the best look at the pin

 
Because the green is partially hidden and sandwiched between dunes – with a cool false front

 
A punchbowl styled green

[Ronald Montesano]

I know from many photos taken, that greens are flattened in still photography. Can you tell us about the greens? The trips to them have us all thinkg Yup, maybe a seven.

[Kevin Pallier]

Ronald


You are correct - the photos do flatten the greens out. The photos also don't capture the panoramic views of the course as well as the movement in the land very well. I will see if I can track down some photos from a friend who took some very early in the morning and show the course it in all its glory.


There are no wild movements in the greens but they do have a lot of false fronts and gentle fallaways. 

[Kevin Pallier]

Photo Credit = Leo Barber

Some sunrise images

[Tom_Doak]

Hi Kevin:


Thanks for the photos.  While I have done my part to help promote the course, I have only been there once, and it was a grey day, so I don't have my usual memory for the details of the course.


If I've been credited in some circles for "discovering" the course, that credit is mistaken . . . it was my younger associates at Tara Iti, Clyde Johnson and [maybe] Michael Henderson, who scouted out a ton of the little courses on the North Island during their down time, and tipped the best of them for me to go and play.

[Thomas Dai]

Looks fabulous with wonderfully rumpled natural terrain.
Sand but black sand.
The weathered and eroded combination of the sea and a Mount Taranaki eruption a zillion years ago?
Cool looking and sized clubhouse.
atb

[Kevin Pallier]

Tom D


Thanks for clarifying the background re: your ties with WGC - am interested as to why you gave it a 6 and not a 7 on your scale?


Thomas D


Here's a bit of background to the black "Ironsand" as sourced from NZ steel website


"The well known black sand beaches sweeping down the west coast of the North Island are the sites of New Zealand's greatest known reserves of ironsand. Its potential for commercial use was recognised from the early days of European settlement. This black ironsand was formed 2.5 million years ago from rock deposited on the coast by volcanic activity in the Taranaki region. The sand contains mainly ironsand (titanomagnetite) and lime-soda feldspars. Over the centuries, the heavy dark ironsands have been transported by ocean currents along the coast and deposited on beaches, forming dunes of up to 90 metres high. After extensive trials, the New Zealand Steel Mill at Glenbrook opened in 1970 with an ironsand mine located at the mouth of the Waikato River."




 

[Tom_Doak]

Thanks for clarifying the background re: your ties with WGC - am interested as to why you gave it a 6 and not a 7 on your scale?

By my definitions, maybe you are right, I should have given it a 7.  My review of the course was very enthusiastic, which is more important than the number.   Unfortunately, though, I've got to worry that people spend $$$$ to travel based on my recommendations; I've had a few irate letters over places like Pennard [which I also gave a 6 in the original book for the same reason], even though it's a beautiful course.


Waverley is a great place and I hope I get back there one day.  Someone who was there a few months ago emailed me that they were "trying to make improvements for when come back," which is missing the point entirely.

[Kevin Pallier]

Tom


Thanks for that - Waverly and Arrowtown (7) are two courses I first heard about thanks to your Confidential Guide. They are both gems and well worth seeking out. Both are rugged and quirky built in entirely different surrounds.   


You may see in some of the photos above they are planting some small trees in drums to replant. IMO some may be required but probably not in the volume that's there.