Waverley is a magical place. I’ve been 3 times in 5 years or so and every time I come away more impressed by how the bloke who laid it out just stumbled onto this piece of land and did it justice. There are at least half a dozen holes that are unlike any you will see in the country
I don’t care at all about conditioning to be fair - I usually just play the ball up on the fairway at a course like that and I’m usually not keeping score so bumpy greens aren’t a huge issue
I think the New Zealand golf public in general is pretty ignorant when it comes to hidden gems (most just care about smooth greens and the idea of a course having to be hard to be good), so I’d say the risk of getting real money into it to turn it into a destination course is low, especially given it’s not really on the way to anywhere and whanganui itself isn’t a big tourist destination
A long weekend trip from Wellington to play whanganui, Waverley, Marton and rangitikei would be a great time tho
Adelaide is so awesome. Excellent food, wine scene… plenty of views. Kangaroo Island… you can see the home of LIV (lol).
Don’t sleep on Brisbane either though… a lot has changed fast up here. We are all grown up! Life by the river rules, we don’t have the crowds (or the golf). But for an overseas visitor the Gold Coast/Sunshine Coasts are close enough for quality day trips to great beaches. Byron Bay is too if you don’t mind a longer drive.
Yeah bro 100% this. I did a mini-trip mid last year and played Pātea, Castlecliff, Marton and was hoping to add Waverley but ran out of light. There’s some very fun and super accessible golf in that area and if you play during the week there’s a high likelihood you’ll have the place to yourself.
I’d agree with that as a lifetime Melburnian. If desperate to try sandbelt golf then by all means head south of the border. But better touristy stuff in Sydney and the GBR. FNQ (Cairns up to Port Douglas) is also an option and likely cheaper than Hamilton Island.
There is definitely something to be said for the stranger… i drained 6 putts from 6-10ft in a row on the practice green and it stayed really consistent throughout- great for pace the whole time and both birdie putts i made were from about 25ft so can’t complain about the putter at all!
Tassie is sick. Like a smaller more intimate NZ. Natural beauty out the arse.
Hobart really is bucking its head as a city too. I was so impressed when I was there in 2023, 15 years after my previous visit, and it had come so far.
Throw in a world top 50 (I’m trying to be conservative) golf course and the place goes even harder.
Did something similar last month. Flew into Wellington and played Paraparaumu, then drove up to Wanganui and played there in the morning and then played Waverley in the afternoon. Drove up to new Plymouth later in the day. Played ngamotu (good shape, but very traditional American style parkland course) next day morning and the fun 13-14 holes at Waitara before flying back to Auckland.
It was so much fun. Waverley was cool, but Waitara was equally fun - I think about Waitara a lot. We played Wanganui in insane winds, so didn’t get to enjoy it as much. And of course Pram was cool too - loved the holes amongst the dunes. Holes 3 and 9 are the ones that stood out.
I saw it in March 2023 about 3/4 shaped and somewhat turfed. We (the super Toohy and I) drove the entire routing and Clayts has described to me some of the holes I haven’t seen shaped.
There’s a fair few asterisks in there.
But I pretty confidently expect it to settle (maybe not debut) as a top 25 course in the world.
For context, I’ve seen about 30-35 of the top 50 or so.
Played Waverly recently - really really fun. So good. Was still thinking about it weeks after the round. Still am thinking about it. So purely golf. Lots of sheep shit.
We’ll figure out the finer details over the next couple months. Excited to take the plunge. May need to start filling out some visitor requests on some courses. Planning only one round in Melbourne and one in Sydney even if it’s Sandy Links and the Bondi 9 holer I have a feeling this will be the best all around trip I’ve ever been on.
