Otago - South Island - New Zealand

Really enjoyed most of the elements of Otago GC and the Balmacewen course when I played in late May. It helped that it was a warmer than average autumn day (Dunedin is chilly at the best of times!), with the course bathed in sunshine and virtually no breeze, so really glorious golfing conditions for a parkland course.

The most striking element early is the towering trees bordering many of the holes, a pretty solid indicator that this course has plenty of history on its site (Otago is one of the oldest clubs in the southern hemisphere I believe). And it is an interesting site, set in the hinterland hills behind the centre of Dunedin city, meaning regular elevation changes and these are a feature of the course: many shots are up or downhill. Dogleg shaping also features regularly and it meant the course routing seemed to flow nicely. There was definitely no feeling of repetitiveness or marching back and forth on parallel holes. Conditioning was excellent and when combined with the solid design and pretty aesthetics, creates a strong overall impression.

The minor elements I didn't like relate to the club rather than the course: the round was overly expensive compared to NZ norms and on two occasions, groups pushed in ahead of the group in front of me making the round slow, especially the back nine.

tbh I expected more of THE Otago Club. Too many bland holes, some gimmicky, many of the tees not in good condition. The 11th and 12th are great, but feel like they're part of a different course.

Just recently played this golf course and have to say i loved it. Even though it is short by modern standards it still offers up some great golf holes. The bunkering is world class as are the greens. There are some great holes such as the 5th, 6th, 8th, 11th and 14th. The course has a solid set of Par 3's and even though there is only two par 5's and both are a similar distance they are still very solid golf holes. Like the previous reviewer stated the courses main weakness is that there is too many short par 4's. Even though I personally love a good short par 4, this course just has too many. However the course is a bit squeezed in places so i don't really see where they could lengthen the course. Overall though the course is pure class and i thouroughly enjoyed my experience at the course.

Whilst the Balmacewen course (Otago is the name of the club) definitely belongs in a bygone era, it is not altogether outdated. People talk about technology making courses redundant, and that certainly holds true here when talking about professional tournaments – in fact, two amateurs have gone round in the low 60’s in tournaments over the last couple of years. But if, like most people, you still can’t get to the 300 yard mark, no matter how big your driver’s head is, you won’t be indulging in too much bullying here.

The par 3’s are decent enough, and the par 5’s intriguing (if not a little similar), but it is the par 4’s that grab the attention, for both good and bad reasons. The strongest moments here are very strong, some of the better holes you’ll find on any Kiwi club layout. The 11th seems to get the plaudits – it’s a great hole with an exhilarating tee-shot, but for me it is wasted as a risk-reward hole as it is too much of a gamble to pull driver, especially when the fairway wood / pitching wedge alternative affords so much leeway. I actually feel that the 6th and 14th stand up well by comparison. Both are dogleg par 4’s, and both require either a pinpoint or well-shaped tee-shot, or you can forget about attacking the pin. I’m also a fan of the 15th, a substantial one-shotter from the tips. There’s some beautiful green complexes scattered here and there (although some others need work), and some great shaping on the bunkers, somewhat reminiscent of the traps of the Melbourne sand-belt perhaps.

But there is a fatal flaw – far too many short par 4’s. There are five below 325yds / 295m, and two of them are steeply downhill. I’m a slightly-longer-than-average 8 handicapper, and I could at a stretch drive 3 or 4 of these greens, even off the back tees (although I’d never back myself to do it all in the same round). More to the point, two of these four shorties are the 16th and the 17th, and that makes for a weak closing stretch. I’m not really critical of these holes – they are decent enough in their own right. There’s just too many of them. The one I can’t abide is the 2nd hole. 295m of bland climbing, it’s an absolute dog of a hole, and is in serious need of a bulldozer.

It was interesting to spot on the club’s website that they had commissioned Greg Turner and Scott McPherson to produce a masterplan to help guide future renovations. Turner and McPherson’s document very much highlights the surplus of short par 4’s, but it seems that they were left scratching their head about how to manufacture the extensive changes that would be needed to return this course to the top flight. There just simply is not enough room to swing the proverbial feline. Having said that, I really liked their ideas for 16 and 17 – if completed, I think that both holes would be extended enough to put them out of reach for all us mere mortals, and the finishing stretch would no longer be the anticlimax it currently is. It would make a huge difference – I’m always finishing my round here feeling somewhat frustrated – so close to being one of THE iconic Kiwi tracks, yet so far away at the same time. Matt Richardson