Waitakere Golf Club

Waitakere Golf Club’s eighteen hole course must be one of the toughest golf courses in New Zealand… Maybe not due to its stimp rating or length, but due to the mountain you have to climb just to get to the sixth hole. I’m sure that if Edmund Hillary played golf, this would have been his first choice. Waitakere Golf Club is also one of the most scenic courses in the city, and the trees and the views of the ranges makes your day an enjoyable outing.
Hole number 1 shocks the crap out of you… Where the bloody hell is the hole? This blind rise tester sets the tone for a challenging day of golf, and the club’s wallet friendly prices, places Waitakere Golf Club firmly in my top ten golfing destinations around Auckland.

This has to be one of my favourite places to play a round of golf, not so much because the course is top quality, but for a number of other reasons. First of all it’s cheap, and for students it’s even cheaper on weekdays ($ 12.50 for 18 holes!) Second, the setting of the course is beautiful. Located in the Waitakere Ranges, it’s so peaceful and serene with native bush, birds and other wildlife all around. Third, it doesn’t get all that busy here, so you can just take your time, and there is no pressure to rush around the course. Fourth, the course is relatively easy and in pretty good condition most of the time, with large open fairways and some shorter holes, while still being challenging enough for an intermediate player.
A couple of downsides to the course though include the many dreaded uphill climbs (It is in the Waitaks remember), and also given the location it does get little sunlight, which means during the wetter months the course doesn’t drain well nor dry out very quickly. Make sure you have good golf shoes because it gets very boggy after a couple days of rain.
Note: Most golf courses operate from first light until last. This changes depending on the time of year of course, but generally the opening hours are around 7am — 5pm.