Taumarunui is a rural service town situated in the centre of the King Country. It is about 40 minutes drive from the summer and winter playgrounds of New Zealand’s North Island; Lake Taupo – famous for its trout fishing, and Mount Ruapehu’s Whakapapa and Turoa ski fields.
It is also gateway to the Whanganui National Park. Taumarunui’s golf course, ‘Tarrangower’, dates back to the early 1920s and has developed into a most attractive all weather course featuring 18 holes of undulating fairways of park like appearance.
Each hole represents a different challenge with the tree lined fairways leading to well guarded target greens.
The trees in this part of the world grow tall and straight, attesting the free draining soils and the lowest wind flow in New Zealand.
photo | Shirley Barton
The huge redwoods watching over the 18th tee are only 60 years old and bear testimony to the district’s moderate climate.
One of the many feature holes on Tarrangower would have to be the Wattles – the No.1 stroke hole 14th. At 387 metres it is sneakily long. One tees off through a 25 metre gap between a stand of magnificent oaks situated some 50 metres from the tee.
Typically the fairway is undulating and tree lined, with the target green guarded on the left by greenside rough and on the right by a deep faced bunker.
The Clubhouse enjoys magnificent views of the 1st, 8th, 9th and 18th holes and there can be no better sight than the sun reflecting the tree shadows against the backdrop hills surrounding Taumarunui.
Nobody who has played Tarrangower has regretted the experience.
photo | Shirley Barton