Titirangi GC

[Padraig Dooley]

The main reason for travelling to New Zealand was Titirangi and it did not disappoint, a joy to play.
1st Par 4
20221108_111659 1st Tee by Padraig Dooley,


20221107_150453 1st Green by Padraig Dooley,


20221107_150457 1st Green by Padraig Dooley,


Par 4 2nd

Untitled by Padraig Dooley,


20221108_113443 2nd Approach by Padraig Dooley,


Par 4 3rd

20221108_114317 3rd Tee by Padraig Dooley,


20221108_114922 3rd Approach by Padraig Dooley,


Par 3 4th


Untitled by Padraig Dooley,


Par 5 5th

20221108_122405 5th Tee Shot by Padraig Dooley,



20221107_160443 5th Approach by Padraig Dooley,


Par 4 6th

20221107_162116 6th Approach by Padraig Dooley,

[Padraig Dooley]

Par 3 7th

Untitled by Padraig Dooley,


20221107_162727 7th Green by Padraig Dooley,

Par 4 8th
20221108_130918 8th Approach by Padraig Dooley,


20221108_130750 8th Green by Padraig Dooley,


Par 4 9th

20221107_123244 9th Approach by Padraig Dooley,


Par 4 10th

Untitled by Padraig Dooley,


Par 3 11th

Untitled by Padraig Dooley,


20221108_134735 11th Lower Tee by Padraig Dooley,


Par 4 12th
20221108_140924 12th Approach by Padraig Dooley,


Par 5 13th

20221107_132325 13th Fairway by Padraig Dooley,



20221107_132412 13th Fairway by Padraig Dooley,


Untitled by Padraig Dooley,

[Padraig Dooley]

Par 3 14th

Untitled by Padraig Dooley,


Untitled by Padraig Dooley,


Par 4 15th

20221108_100414 15th Tee Shot by Padraig Dooley,


20221107_135648 15th Green by Padraig Dooley,


Par 4 16th
Untitled by Padraig Dooley,


Par 5 17th
20221107_141816 17th Tee Shot by Padraig Dooley,


20221107_142418 17th Green by Padraig Dooley,


20221107_142429 17th Green by Padraig Dooley,



Par 4 18th

Untitled by Padraig Dooley,



20221107_114847 Behind 18 by Padraig Dooley,

[John Kavanaugh]

Your first photo shoots asked questions. These provide answers.

[Pat Burke]

In another life, I played Titirangi in the ‘87Air New Zealand Open


Such a cool golf course on a pretty small area


Had a lot of fun there, great course and people

[Mike_Clayton]

In another life, I played Titirangi in the ‘87Air New Zealand Open


Such a cool golf course on a pretty small area


Had a lot of fun there, great course and people

Which was close to the last time we played there. It was always a fun week - not a difficult course but always interesting.
Frank Nobilo caddied for Al Geiberger there in the late 1970s and he called it "the longest 6400y course I've ever played"

[Thomas Dai]

Another wonderful photo-tour. Well done. Looks like they really appreciate their MacKenzie heritage and design. I was fortunate enough to chat briefly with their Course Manager a few months ago. I wish I'd seen this beforehand.
atb

[Tom_Doak]

Is that a pond short and left of the green at the 8th?


Pretty sure that wasn't there the first time I saw Titirangi.


The course had a massive overhaul about 20 years ago -- there was a thread about it here, I think.  Since then, Clyde Johnson has been doing some finer detailing work, on the back of working at Tara Iti and Te Arai.  Maybe he will chime in on what that work has entailed.


As for "the longest 6400 yards in golf," Mike, I"ve heard the same exact comment about Pasatiempo and Crystal Downs.  Funny how they all have one thing in common.

[Adam Lawrence]

The course had a massive overhaul about 20 years ago -- there was a thread about it here, I think.  Since then, Clyde Johnson has been doing some finer detailing work, on the back of working at Tara Iti and Te Arai.  Maybe he will chime in on what that work has entailed.

More like fifteen. Here's an article from 2008 by Chris Pitman, the architect who did the work.


https://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/titirangi-golf-club

[Tom_Doak]

Adam:


Yes, I remember that article.  At the time, I thought it read like, "What if Alister MacKenzie had a D-8?"  But to be fair, the original shaping work at Titirangi was not overseen by the likes of Alex Russell or Perry Maxwell, and it was done on a pretty small scale befitting their resources at the time.  I don't think MacKenzie would have minded seeing it redone in more grand fashion.

[David Kelly]

I'll never forget my one round at Titrangi for more than just the course, which I greatly enjoyed.  After finishing up my round I went into the clubhouse bar and there was nobody there.  I waited around for 5 minutes and nobody appeared so I went into the pro shop and there was nobody there either.  I went out, put my things in the car and went back to the proshop where there was a girl behind the counter who looked shook up and was watching tv.  It was about 20 minutes after the big Christchurch earthquake and the horrible reports were just coming in.

[Pat Burke]

In another life, I played Titirangi in the ‘87Air New Zealand Open


Such a cool golf course on a pretty small area


Had a lot of fun there, great course and people

Which was close to the last time we played there. It was always a fun week - not a difficult course but always interesting.
Frank Nobilo caddied for Al Geiberger there in the late 1970s and he called it "the longest 6400y course I've ever played"

It certainly didn’t feel that short to me. 
So many fun shots into the greens!

[George Pazin]

As for "the longest 6400 yards in golf," Mike, I"ve heard the same exact comment about Pasatiempo and Crystal Downs.  Funny how they all have one thing in common.

Interesting. How was it achieved?

[Jim Hoak]

I played in the same recent event at Titirangi as Padraig.  I loved the course and the tournament.  I had heard previously mixed things about the course, but I found it be great fun--and pretty amazing architecture by MacKenzie on a somewhat difficult piece of land.  Small acreage and very up and down.
I had never played the course before, but I am curious if anyone who played it both before and after the recent work has any comment on what was done.  I have to believe it was very significant and excellent work.
One very minor, picky complaint--the 11th hole (pictured well by Padraig) is named The Redan.  It is an excellent Par 3, but it clearly isn't a Redan.  One of the members asked us about it, and we told him there was a quick fix of the problem--just rename the hole.
Other than that--Titirangi was one of the more interesting and fun courses I've played in a long time.

[Padraig Dooley]

I played in the same recent event at Titirangi as Padraig.  I loved the course and the tournament.  I had heard mixed things about the course, but I found it be great fun--and pretty amazing architecture by MacKenzie on a somewhat difficult piece of land.  Small acreage and very up and down.
I had never played he course before, but I am curious if anyone who played it both before and after the recent work has any comment on what was done.  I have to believe it was very significant and excellent work.
One very minor, picky complaint--the 11th hole (pictured well by Padraig) is named The Redan.  It is an excellent Par 3, but it clearly isn't a Redan.  One of the members asked us about it, and we told him there was a quick fix of the problem--just rename the hole.
Other than that--Titirangi was one of the more interesting and fun courses I've played in a long time.

Jim, I'm not sure if you saw the original drawing for the 11th in the clubhouse, but it had it as a Redan with the green going right to left as opposed to left to right, the construction guy in the 20's got it the wrong way around. There is a chance it may be changed in the future, green as opposed to name!

[Padraig Dooley]

Is that a pond short and left of the green at the 8th?


Pretty sure that wasn't there the first time I saw Titirangi.


The course had a massive overhaul about 20 years ago -- there was a thread about it here, I think.  Since then, Clyde Johnson has been doing some finer detailing work, on the back of working at Tara Iti and Te Arai.  Maybe he will chime in on what that work has entailed.


As for "the longest 6400 yards in golf," Mike, I"ve heard the same exact comment about Pasatiempo and Crystal Downs.  Funny how they all have one thing in common.

Tom

It is a pond left of the green on the 8th, I'm not sure how long it is there.
If Crystal, Pasatiempo and Titirangi are the longest 6,400 yards in golf, what is the 5,600 yards at Claremont!

[Clyde Johnson]

Thanks for the pictures Padraig, and sorry that I missed getting over to the MacKenzie Society gathering to give a history talk.


There's an interesting backstory to Titiriangi Golf Club, with their original course over One Tree Hill - a dormant volcano - featuring some crazy holes!

The course had a massive overhaul about 20 years ago -- there was a thread about it here, I think.  Since then, Clyde Johnson has been doing some finer detailing work, on the back of working at Tara Iti and Te Arai.  Maybe he will chime in on what that work has entailed.

MacKenzie one-day visit produced an 18 hole routing plan, with 9 of his original green's drawing surviving from 1926. Pittman's 'restoration' was relatively faithful to those plans, though not completely, as the sandy waste left of the second, de-blinding of the 10th drive, new green position on the 13th, over-bunkering of the 18th attest (among others.) He certainly gave the features more of the boldness that we would associate with MacKenzie, even if some of the features sit uncomfortably above grade - Pittman spent time working in Malaysia, and the head greenkeeper was responsible for much of the construction, so it is understandable that they might have been over cautious of surface drainage in those heavy soils. 


Pittman only made it 16 holes through his plan. In 2017, we reworked the 1st hole, guided by MacKenzie's routing plan, but without a surviving green plan.

Before:


After:



The 17th green had migrated slightly backwards from its original position. MacKenzie had described this in his notes as a three-shot-hole, so we made the decision to build the green 50 yards or so beyond, at the end of the ridge, as the topography was essentially the same. This also gave us the space to reinstate the approach bunkers with a bit more meaning.


Before:


After:



Head Greenkeeper Greg Swafford has made great strides with the mowing lines, opening up vistas and recapturing the grand playing corridors. It is a brawny piece of ground, and a very challenging golf course. Our last piece of work was in reshaping the bunkers on the 5th hole at the end of 2019. Next on the agenda is to address boundary issues on the 3rd and 13th - Padraig's picture of the 13th shows where the fairway will migrate left onto the shoulder of the stream, closer to how MacKenzie had it drawn.

[Tom_Doak]

As for "the longest 6400 yards in golf," Mike, I"ve heard the same exact comment about Pasatiempo and Crystal Downs.  Funny how they all have one thing in common.

Interesting. How was it achieved?

1.  All of those courses are pretty hilly, and a lot of tee shots land into upslopes and get little roll-out.
2.  Instead of a bunch of 400-yard par-4s, MacKenzie would build three or four sub-350-yard par-4s where you might not hit driver, and then a bunch of 440+ yard holes that are still long holes for non-professionals.
3.  All of these courses have only two or three par-5 holes, and more long par-4s to take the place of the par-5s built by other designers.
4.  The course seems longer when every approach shot above the hole costs you an extra stroke!

Likewise, as Padraig mentioned, Claremont might be the longest 5600 yards in golf -- except for Cavendish.

[Kalen Braley]

Tom,

I would also add at least for the case of Pasatiempo:

Par 3s - #3 where due to length and being uphill and #8 due to a highly sloping green, 4 is very much in play for a good player on both of these and certainly 5 for the average one.

And #11 just may be one of the hardest sub 400 yard par 4s you'll ever play.

[Michael Goldstein]

Thanks for posting Padraig.


Even though I live in NZ I haven't seen Titirangi since Clyde made the changes. The photographs look superb.  #1 and #17 look like a huge improvement and the work on 13.

Clyde, I'd be really interested in your thoughts about the 10th and 11th holes and what is in store there?

[Matthew Mollica]

For those interested in the pervious form of Titirangi - I penned a review of the course and took some photos during a trip there in early 2009.


https://golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/titirangi-golf-club/