Swinging in the Rain.............

Given that Monday & Tuesday were fine and clear it was too much to hope that the clement weather would continue on into Wednesday afternoon.

As I reached the empty car park of the Greymouth Golf Club, Kaiata Links, a 10 minute drive from town a wetting steady drizzle permeated the air. Set slightly back up the Grey Valley low misty cloud hovered below the crest of the hills coating the bush line and cloaking the course in an eerie silence (apart from the greenkeeper it seemed I was the only person around) . Undeterred I unpacked the clubs, paid green fees and headed for the first tee.

Greymouth provides an interesting contrast to Hokitika, while Hokitika is very much a 'links' course Greymouth is very clearly a 'park' course. The setup does however have several interesting features: firstly stroke hole 1 is the first and stroke hole 2 is the eighteenth, the four par 5's all come with a rush in the middle of the course in holes 7 - 13, and rather than having tree lined fairways the numerous trees are clumped together in smallish groups so as you walk there is the impression of significant open space but visually enclosed from the tee. This optical effect is a feature on some of the par 5's where your drives are effectively down tights chutes.

In racing parlance the the underfoot conditions would be described as soft and holding and while there was no run also there was no surface water or squelching. The tees had been moved forward on the blocks obviously protecting the ground in the wintry conditions. The greens were reasonably small, understandably soft but with a good covering of grass, generally flat, very true and slightly faster than anticipated.

Playing alone in the late afternoon I got round in just on 2 1/2 hours underlining it is a reasonably easy walk although it does give you the sensation of being pretty much up and down. There a couple of holes worthy of mention being 8- a dog leg left with out of bounds on the left and some cunningly situated trees hampering the line in for the second while 17 & 18 provide strong finishing holes especially the last where there is a premium on the tee shot to allow a long second through an archway of significantly large pines to one of the few sloping greens.

While personally favouring the more bohemian charms of Hokitika, Greymouth with its well maintained and pleasant surroundings should not be discounted if you wish for a quick stress free hit.