Royal Wellington Golf Club

Elfde golfbaan van mijn reis door Nieuw Zeeland. Beoordeling met wat haken en ogen. Het cijfer is gebaseerd op slechts de laatste negen van de Heretaunga course omdat de eerste negen gesloten waren door onderhoud. Ze hadden de laatste negen gecombineerd met de negen holes van de Terracecourse (bijbaan). Mijn beoordeling is dus vooral gebasserd op de laatste negen holes. Dit was overigens van te voren keurig gemeld. De terrace course is niet heel bijzonder. Leuk maar niet speciaal en ook waren de laatste holes ook nog in onderhoud waardoor we nog met wintergreens te maken kregen. Pas toen ik aan de echte negen holes begon van de Heretaunga course krijg je het gevoel dat je op een echte mooie volwassen golfbaan loopt. Een parkbaan met uitdaging. De holes slingeren zich mooi doode omgeving en langs de Hutt-rivier. De baan was dus in onderhoud maar als je daar doorheen kijkt kan je echt zien dat dit een mooi ontworpen golfbaan is die een bezoekje de moeite waard is. Het clubhuis straalt historie uit en doet binnen wel een beetje oudbollig aan. De oevrige faciliteiten zijn keurig verzorgd en je wordt hartelijk onthaald door de proshop. ook hier voor het eerst nog iets nieuws gezien. Hier hebben ze geen harken in de bunkers maar stokken met rollers er aan om door het zand te halen. Werkte fantastisch en makkelijk in de bunkers. Na navraag bleek het dat het voor veel oudere golfers makkelijker is dan harken. Is misschien ook iets voor hier in Nederland. Al met al een beoordeling met haken en ogen maar mocht ik ooit weer eens in de buurt zijn dan geef ik Wellington golfclub zeker een bezoekje.

This rating has been established by the Leading Courses Expert Panel, drawing on a combination of on-course experience, industry expert interviews, and the world's leading golf ranking publications. As a living benchmark, our ratings are regularly updated to stay accurate and relevant. Played this course? Share your review and help shape the most trusted golf community platform in the world. #bygolfersforgolfers

This was the last course I played on the North island on my April trip to NZ, right after Paraparaumu Beach.

The course is easy to find and amongst all I have played, it had the most lively feel to it. I played it on a Wednesday afternoon,1pm, and the course was packed, and I mean packed. There was hardly any space left on the parking are, the pro shop was very busy just like the restaurant. I taught they had a tournament or something, it turned out that was not the case, just a nice sunny day. So my advice, book in advance, don't expect to arrive and to be able to get a tee time.

I had some time before the round and spent it on the terrace of a very nice clubhouse with friendly staff overlooking the magnificent 18th fairway and green.

The range was basic but had all the things one would require, you can hit the ball from grass or mat and the range balls are complimentary.

The course itself is a lovely parkland design, it's obvious that it has been there fore a while and could use some makeover, especially on some of the back nine holes, some extra vegetation along the border line fairways would go a long way into making it a more pleasant experience, that being said, the course does boost with some of the oldest and largest trees I ever saw on a golf course, and the versatility of the vegetation is impressive.

The lay of the course makes it quite fun to play, not to difficult in terms of running the risk of losing your ball in the rough, it is quite manageable, I guess you only need to be concerned of the ball going swimming and there are a few places to chose where you want to have swimming lesson. The course is relatively flat and physically not demanding, you can easily walk it, I fact, most people on that day did no. If you play from the black tees, you also have the option of really hammer it with your long irons or driver, some par 5's are quite challenging. They had some problems with burned out fairways, nothing major, and they did just did the aeration on the greens, which made it a bit difficult to put accurately, however, I have been been told by my playing partners that, in other circumstances, the greens are among the best, I am inclined to believe them, at least from what I saw.

All in all, had a lot of fun playing the course and would recommend it if you are in the area.

Very English, Wer hier nicht spielt, wenn die Möglichkeit gegeben ist, ist selber schuld. Wie die besten englischen Parklandkurse (Surrey), Toll. Grüns super, leider hatten die Fairways sehr unter der Trockenheit gelitten. Wurde generös im Greenfee berücksichtigt. Ein Muss in NZ. Nicht ohne Grund ein Platz mit internationalen Ausrichtungen. Schnelles Spiel ist gefordert.

Royal Wellington is a private Golf Club just north of New Zealand's capital. They recently decided to allow cell phones in the clubhouse, that kind of private. This place just breathes history and tradition. The clubhouse as a building is beautiful, the interior looks almost as old as the club itself and needs a bit of upgrading in my opinion. The staff is friendly, but don't give you the warm feeling that I had at Royal Auckland for instance.

The course recently had a complete makeover. It has two faces, one area is built in a beautiful parkland landscape with massive trees, an amazing variety of bushes, plants and stunning creeks floating through several holes. The (new) other part is more open and less appealing to me. Considering it's not the easiest land to build a golf course, they did a decent job in terms of the redesign. But the best holes for me are definitely in the old area of the course.

In terms of maintenance, there is quite a bit of work to be done before the Asian Pacific Amateur pays a visit to Royal Wellington. A lot of greens are scrapped by mowers and have a fair bit of bluegrass in them, this makes them quite bumpy and unpredictable. Because the course is built on a clay soil in a river bed, drainage is a serious concern here. We had an amazing amount of rain the day before we played, but you notice that there are a few area's that are wet most of the times.

I feel that this course and club has a lot of unused potentials. The service and clubhouse can use a quality injection and the new part of the course will mature over time to blend in with the old part. Looking forward to coming back in five years time, watch this space.