North Shore (Red)

North Shore Golf Club was established in 1931, with golfers playing on a site just outside Auckland in Takapuna. In the late 1950s, the course was under threat from motorway works for the Auckland Harbour Bridge so a decision was made to relocate eight kilometres northwest to Albany.

Thankfully, the old site which was lleft behind wasn’t completely obliterated and the municipal Takapuna Golf Course still operates there, attracting more than 60,000 rounds of golf annually.

Over the years, an extensive drainage system was installed at Albany to overcome the sodden state of the fairways which can occur with heavy rain on the North Shore clays and a fairway watering system was introduced in the mid-1990s to further enhance playing conditions.

There are 27 holes in operation at the club and, very confusingly, the names for the three 18-hole configurations match those on the individual nines so the “Red” course combines the Red nine (holes 1-9) and Blue nine (holes 10-18) – with the “Blue” course comprising Blue and Gold nines and the “Gold” course made from the Red and Gold nines.

Notable holes on the 18-hole “Red” include the downhill short par three 4th and left doglegged 6th which runs along the side of Lucas Creek. On the back nine, the par four 13th brings a lovely lake on the right of the fairway into play with the approach shot, while the heavily sand-protected par three 16th is a lot more difficult that its benign stroke index suggests.