Greendale, Ashburton & Tinwald Golf Courses

Saturday was very hot and sunny when we arrived at the Greendale country course where it was Club Day. 

We could have waited until 12.30 and joined in with the members but decided to play before it got even hotter - about 30° I think. The course was interesting - mainly flat with good fairways but with a knob or 2 and some rough areas out wide.

We joined the members in the clubhouse after they had finished play and found, yet again, that the world is full of amazing coincidences. Out of the 4 men we were sitting with one was from Whitehaven where Len is from and the other from Carlisle which is very close by. They have both emigrated here.

No showers at this course but after a bus shower we had a quiet night staying in the carpark.

Good catch up!

Sunday we met up with our Ohope friends, Owen and Gilda, at Ashburton Golf Course which is listed in our NZMCA book as an overnight stay, free if you pay green fees. Nice club rooms with a shower available and we enjoyed playing on the parklike course with it's plentiful bunkers. Not many people around but one other non playing motorhomer did arrive to stay the night. The course also had a man, the Club Monitor, who was there for a while "keeping an eye on things".

We had a great evening with Owen & Gilda, celebrating their wedding anniversary as well as an early New Years eve. We opened the ham that Len had won in the Kaikoura Golf tournament and were pleased to be able to give away plenty so we don't have to eat it all. We have put some in the freezer so we can spread the ham meals out!

On Monday we said "why not play golf 3 days in a row?" and after saying our goodbyes to Owen and Gilda and doing our washing at the Ashburton laundry we
set off for Tinwald Golf course which is just south and slightly West of Ashburton. 

Our 2018 new year's eve venue

Another nice parklike course with a variety of trees including conifers, willows and some deciduous ones including a walnut, some bunkers and several trickily placed drains running across about 6 of the fairways, one being very close to a green. Of course we both ended up in that one! However I had my best game for ages and Len also played well, resulting in a match play draw!

Again not many people around but we checked with the greenkeeper who was very happy for us to stay the night saying that it would keep the boy racers from doing their wheelies on the gravel carpark! I had a shower in the clubhouse and we had a nice quiet New Years Eve parked behind the big hedge. For some reason we lost our TV reception early on so it was a night of scrabble - another draw after 3 games. A good way to end the year - evenly matched at both golf and scrabble!