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Golf & Sport
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Boulcott’s Farm Heritage Golf Club
Type: Golf Location: , Wellington, North Island, New Zealand Address: 2010 Military Road |
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Golf & Sport
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Boulcott’s Farm Heritage Golf Club
Type: Golf Location: Wellington Address: 2010 Military Road |
Scroll Position Overview
Overview of the luxury item
Overview
Situated close to where the Battle of Boulcott’s Farm stockade took place during the New Zealand land wars between British forces and local Mâori
people in the 1840s, the course at Lower Hutt has been in use since 1909 when a 9hole layout was first established.
A further four holes were brought into play a couple of years after the course’s inauguration but the intervention of hostilities during World War I
delayed the arrival of a full 18hole layout until the late 1920s.
The golf clubs of Hutt (formed in 1892) and Boulcott (founded in 1938) were amalgamated in 2010, thus creating New Zealand’s first Heritage Golf
Club at Boulcott’s Farm, so all the members of the newly merged club play at the same Military Road venue.
Currently the 18hole course at Boulcott's Farm is being reconstructed in stages, following a masterplan laid out by Chris Pitman (who was responsible
for the universally acclaimed renovation / restoration at Titirangi (/golfcourse/titirangi)). A new short 6hole course has also been completed – all to
USGA standards.
Av. Reviewers Score:
It’s really difficult to know how to review this course, and it’s almost entirely because I’ve played it half way through an extensive redevelopment
(and because I played it in a gale). Whilst there are some new holes that are completed, there were others that were just getting their first covering
of grass (and not in play yet), and others that were purely temporary measures, the rest being the ever reducing remains of the old course.
It appears that circumstances have led to an 18 hole and a 9 hole club, both running over rather ordinary golfing property, having to amalgamate,
with the added complication of some flood defences being built by the local authority, which also have to be incorporated into (disguised by?) the
new design. John, the general manager, let me know that in no way were they seeking to compete with the likes of Royal Wellington down the
road, which suggests that their budget is not close to the $7+ million spent there. So it seems that the club(s), in collaboration with Chris Pitman,
have decided that this was an opportunity to create something new, and are doing the best they can with what they have.
So … to the course. Firstly, the holes that were just starting to grow in – they will be (I think) 8, 9, and 18 when the course is finally complete.
Couldn’t get a good feel for what the 9th will be like, but 8 (par 3) and 18 (par 4) look like they may be the best of the bunch, from what I can see,
particularly some beautiful shaping around the 18th green. Of the new holes that were open, they generally seemed like conventional modern
parkland design, although 4 was somewhat quirky with a sharply angled green. Again, it’s really hard to judge that hole, as it’s a long par 4 that I
played into a 4 club wind – hard to feel how it plays in those circumstances. What remains of the old course seems like a decent version of a New
Zealand parkland course, which is probably why it had just sneaked into our Top 50 before the changes. A couple of really neat holes – I could
number them, but those numbers will probably have changed by the time you get there.
The impression it left me with was that this was a golf club made for the community it finds itself in. It’s a busy place, with a down to earth feel, and
it’s priced for people who have normal, run of the mill salaries. It’s also no pushover. I can imagine that this is the perfect club for skilled young
players, looking to hone their games on an affordable course that will, when completed, give them a flavour of championship golf. There’s nothing
amazing about it (although the new 18th might come close), but it’s solid.
To give it a score, I have to base it on what I found, which is a three ball, but when completed, it will almost certainly fit alongside courses I have
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