The Wainui Golf Club opened in 2016 and is now established as one of the best tests of golf across the greater Auckland landscape.

By Golfer Pacific Writer Peter Thornton

A beautiful challenge

I grew up learning the game of golf at the Peninsula Golf Club near Ōrewa, so naturally there was intrigue in what the owners had created at the Wainui Golf Club.

About 12 years ago, the Peninsula Golf Club sold its land of around 45 hectares at the start of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula to a developer and moved 9km west to a country site in Wainui.

The previous site is now occupied by around 520 residential sections and golf there is just a distant memory.

Puddicombe Golf Design was given a blank canvas at Wainui of natural topography of rural countryside to make a masterpiece.

What it has created is a brilliant test of golf that should be on everyone’s bucket list this summer. You are around 45 minutes from the heart of Auckland city, but you feel like you are in a different land with rolling hills, bleating sheep and country air.

The task given to Sid Puddicombe and his team was to create a championship course that was also playable and enjoyable for their club members. They have achieved that comfortably.

With Gulf Harbour Country Club no longer in action, Wainui can rightfully claim to be one of the best courses on Auckland’s North Shore, if not the wider region.

“Better to be lucky than good”

On a warm and overcast morning, we headed north for our annual game between Christmas and the New Year to finish off 2024.

The format was simple; matchplay from the white tees with the best ball winning the hole. The winners claim the toasties and beers and more importantly the bragging rights until next time.

On the card this time were good mates Andrew Joyce, Jeremy White and Chris Brookbanks.

Joyce, a member of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, picked up the game four years ago when I took him out for a game at Karori Golf Club in Wellington. He shot 126 that day and now plays off a 20. He recently shot his best score of 88 at Royal Wellington, so he was full of confidence.

Chris and Jeremy are both part-time golfers who don’t play much but can come up with genuine moments of magic. We throw the balls in the air; I team up with Chris and Joyce and Jeremy pair up. Joyce and I play off the stick and the others both get nine strokes.

Wainui is a good test on a calm day, but when the wind gets up like today, it has some real teeth.

Caption: Andrew Joyce hit his approach shot into the par four 7th hole at Wainui. It is a hole that is all about your second shot.

We get off to a fortunate start down the first. I hook my tee shot into the trees that hug the out of bounds and it ricochets off a tree into the middle of the fairway. I hit a nine iron to 15 feet and make par to go one up. Chris comes up trumps with a solid par on the second and then Joyce gets his team back into the match with a quality par on the par five fourth.

It’s clear that Wainui is more of a challenge than Peninsula ever was. It can be uncompromising. In the final year at Peninsula, Puddicombe Golf Design reshaped the final four holes. It was a teaser of sorts for the members to see what the new layout at Wainui would look and play like.

Seeing it come to life on the full championship course is special – they have created a beautiful challenge that will test every part of your game.

Superb conditioning

The course is in excellent condition from tee to green, and it is the variety of challenge that makes Wainui unique. There are many great holes and weaving through the undulating layout in carts is a real adventure.

One of my favourites is the fifth. It’s a straight par four that has two bunkers down the left hand side of the fairway. If you get hold of your drive, you’ll hit a mid-iron into the green. Make sure you take enough club, because the green has a false front.

I make a solid par here and think I’ve done enough to win the hole, but Jeremy makes bogey, and with his shot, we halve the hole.

There is a stretch of great holes to finish the front nine. The par four seventh is a dogleg left that is all about ball placement from the tee. The par three eighth is only a short iron but with water down the left hand side, it gets your attention, and the par four ninth is a good test back up the hill to the clubhouse.

When we reach the turn, we are one up and the beers and toasties are very much in the balance.

Jeremy shows what he is capable of with a brilliant par on the stroke one hole, the par four 12th, and we are back on level terms.

Both Jeremy and Chris come up with some super shot making – Jeremy’s approach shot to the 18th hole was probably the best shot of the day – and Joyce is consistent throughout. He plays the same golf ball until he finds trouble on the 17th.

Caption: Peter Thornton tees off on the par four 15th at Wainui. It’s a short par four at 275 metres but it has an awesome green with a double swale.

Midway through the back nine there are back-to-back par fives that require decent ball-striking and then you arrive at the 15th, which is a fantastic hole. It looks easy enough on the scorecard, but accuracy is paramount here. We found the fairway with our drives but getting close to the pin from around 100m is not easy as the green is divided by two swales.

I hit a raggedy approach that finds the fringe and my par is good enough for us to be dormy three.

Claiming the spoils

Caption: This beautiful shot at Wainui is of the par five 14th is the second hardest hole on the course. This is the view for the second shot. The hole measures 487 metres

The gentle zephyr that we started with on the first is now a bustling wind and makes the final three holes a battle.

Joyce wins the 16th hole before Chris finishes the match 2 and 1 when he makes a 10-foot putt for bogey on the 17th. We drive up the 18th feeling good and ready to claim the spoils. Like every round there was hope at the start, some missed opportunities, and moments to relive over a cold pint of beer and a world class club sandwich.

We all agree that we’d love to take on Wainui again. It’s the sort of course that after playing it once you will be better for it, as you know where the trouble and opportunities lie.

The chance for redemption is for another day. Our game here was the perfect way to bring down the curtain on 2024 as we look forward to the many more battles and beers in the New Year.

Caption: Looking up the 18th fairway which is a good test to finish your round. The clubhouse is waiting at the top of the hill.

ASK THE PRO – WAINUI GOLF CLUB HEAD PRO MIKE DUNCUMB

What makes Wainui Golf Club a special place to play golf?

It’s a big course, the holes are all separate from one another and you feel like you are out in the country. Being a sand capped course it is a great winter option with access to the fairways in carts 12 months of the year. The green complexes give you many different options when chipping and putting and with seven tee options there is a course to suit everyone.

What makes it a challenge?

The number of different clubs and shots required off the tee on certain holes. The back nine has a stretch of four holes where positioning your tee shot in the correct spot is the only way to be able to attack the pin.

What are some of your signature holes?

The 8th and 15th are both very different holes but encapsulate the different tee options and shot options players have when playing the course for the first time.

What advice do you offer to people playing Wainui for the first time?

Use a cart, make sure you have a range finder and arrive to the course in time to warm up on the driving range and putting green.

Caption: The Wainui Golf Club is a great adventure. It has some fantastic holes and the lake near the clubhouse features on holes 1, 8, 9 and 18.

Story written and published over summer 24/25