If you are a keen reader of Golf Australia magazine - print or digital - you’ll notice that the brilliance and understated beauty of the images that support these words might look familiar.
In our December issue this writer covered the Kiwi golfing secret, the Canterbury region. Within that feature, Clearwater Golf Club at Clearwater Resort rightfully headlined the region’s premier championship venues.
The John Darby design deserves its own feature. Not only is Clearwater thriving as Christchurch’s premier venue, it isn’t resting on its laurels with that flattering tag. The layout – and surrounding facilities – are continually improving, making Clearwater a must-play for locals and travelling golfers setting their sights on a phenomenal test with glistening vistas on rolling terrain.
The golf course is the centrepiece of a community, offering rural landscapes right on the city’s edge. In true resort style, modern and vibrant houses flank large bodies of water and look out onto the luxurious oasis of the layout.
Like most upper-echelon resort layouts, Clearwater is characterised by its big, undulating greens and wide and hittable fairways, especially on the front side.
In consultation with New Zealand’s greatest male golfer, Sir Bob Charles, Darby commenced the golf course’s development in 1998, and it was opened for play in 2002, the course still relatively young. Clearwater has hosted numerous significant events, including two New Zealand Opens, four New Zealand Women’s Opens and eight New Zealand PGA Championships; it is a top-quality championship ballpark that has seen some of the best players in the world grace its fairways.
Speaking of which, New Zealand’s greatest golfer, Lydia Ko, holds the course record – 61 as a 17-year-old – and has never shot a round over par at the venue, the course pivotal in her ascent into the professional ranks. Out of the four New Zealand Women’s Opens at Clearwater, Ko has three of those trophies locked away.
I first played Clearwater as a university student while studying in Christchurch. I had never had the chance to play as a schoolboy, but you’d hear whispers around the traps about just how impressive and challenging the loop can be.
The first time I stepped foot on the property, I was coming for the golf course and staying for a picturesque clubhouse beer in the beautiful outdoor area, looking back down the 18th, arguably one of the best spots for a cold one going around.
Now, you come and stay for those things, but an entire new facility just across the road left me up to the eyeballs in admiration. The Sir Bob Charles Centre – the attention to detail at this brand-new centre of excellence is unparalleled in the South Island. A 3500 square-metre putting green, 340-metre dual-ended driving range, flawless short game areas, TrackMan and PuttView technology and my personal favourite, the fairway bunker practice area.
I have never been more excited to warm up for a round; it whet my appetite for what was to come.
I have been lucky enough to play several rounds at Clearwater now. There is a perfect balance of holes where you can take the headcover off a driver and know you have some wiggle room even though water vistas are in your peripheral. Beware, you will not have that luxury the entire way around; some holes not only put accuracy at a premium, but also force you to make strategic decisions on what club to hit and visualise the best route to your par or better. There is an excellent variety of thinking holes, which is a credit to the design and shows why Ko was so uncompromising and dominant at the Garden City layout; one of this generation’s most strategically astute players.
The course can be played as long or as short as you like, with six tee options, which I believe is brilliant. It makes a championship layout playable for golfers of all abilities.
Of the nines, the front is definitely the weaker of the two if you had to choose. However, the more I have returned, the more I appreciate the holes. Clearwater offers a steady start on which a better player can capitalise. If I had some advice for a visitor who wants to score well around Clearwater, I would tell them it is important to start well and try to climb into the red numbers on holes 1 to 7.
The par-4 3rd is a good tester of your decision-making; although I don’t believe it is one of the better holes on the course, I think it poses you with your first actual strategic decision of the day – a dogleg right which off the standard white tees tips the scales at 313 metres. Fairway bunkers line each side of the fairway right in the landing zone. You can attempt to cut the corner with the driver, but a swampy hazard on the right awaits your ball if you can’t make the carry or fan one too far offline.
In this writer’s opinion, 8 and 9 take the cake of the best holes on the front side. The tee at 8 is where you kiss goodbye the easiest stretch of holes. This is where Clearwater begins to separate itself from other resort layouts; you have to be switched on and prepared to think about what you are doing, all while soaking in the magnificent terrain and visual extravaganzas awaiting you hole-by-hole.
The 8th is a par-4 with a suffocating landing area flanked by sand traps on the left and water on the right. An accurate driver of the ball could slit the two. I tend to tread lightly here, lay up short of the bunkers on the right, try to find the meat of the green with my following shot and move on to the daunting par-3 9th, a brilliant one-shotter; the best in the region.
Surrounded by water, short and right, and a greenside bunker perched on the left side of the green, the tee shot requires maximum precision, tipping the scales at 188 metres off the championship plates and a squeaky 164 off the whites. Not only is 9 a quality golf hole, it is also arguably the best opportunity for a picture; as you can see, it photographs beautifully and will no doubt make you the envy of your pals if it finds your social media page or the wall at home.
I will die on the hill that I believe the back nine at Clearwater is one of the best in the entire country. It is just a brilliant stretch of holes. A great mix of different-length par-4s, par-3s over water and a couple of strategic par-5s. The holes following the turn are challenging to fault and plenty of fun.
Since I am penning a review, I’d better pick a few favourites, but let me inform you, this wasn’t as easy a task as you may think.
The par-4 13th is a great hole, demanding and beautiful. It has a solitary tree on the left and water left of that; it is one I enjoy playing every time, even though it has brought me to my knees more than I would like to admit. Lydia Ko brilliantly chipped-in during the final round here in 2016 on her way to winning her third – and most recent – New Zealand Women’s Open.
The next hole is an absolute blinder. I would have played the hole at least five times, but I still don’t know the best way to combat it. The 474-metre par-5 14th is possibly some of Darby’s most creative work.
Hidden burns split the 14th fairway twice, meaning a double carry is on the menu for the mere mortal and leaves plenty of intrigue around your tee shot. You will likely be left with a wedge in your hands for your third, hitting into a funnel green, which is always exciting for any golfer.
I have a tale to tell about the par-4 17th, another quality golf hole, without sounding like a broken record.
For starters, this is one of the more challenging greens to hit; it is hard to describe but has shades of a tabletop; missing the green is quite the penalty. My playing partner on the day I compiled this review was Mitch Hay, a solid five-marker and recently minted New Zealand Blackcaps wicket-keeper. We had both had tough days performance-wise, but Mitchell took a knockout blow on 17 when he signed for an 11, yes, 11 golf shots on the penultimate hole, one of the best pieces of comedy I had seen in a long time.
Nonetheless, I’ll never tire of the walk down 18 towards the clubhouse, a long sweeping par-4 around Clearwater’s largest body of water. The clubhouse calls on you as you drain your final putts; it is crucial to favour the right-hand side of the fairway; it leaves you a good angle into a green guarded by sand. Leaking left can lead to a watery conclusion to your round, off the tee and even your approach into the green.
The ultimate praise for a golf course is wanting to walk straight from the 18th green to the 1st tee and do it all again, or maybe just come back tomorrow and repeat. Clearwater has that feel; you want to soak all its brilliance in again and again.
FACT FILE
LOCATION: 40A Clearwater Avenue, Northwood, Christchurch, New Zealand, 8051.
CONTACT: +64 3 3602146; play@clearwatergolf.co.nz
WEBSITE: www.clearwatergolf.co.nz
DESIGNERS: John Darby in consultation with Sir Bob Charles.
GENERAL MANAGER: Aiden Berry.
PGA PROFESSIONALS: For coaching, contact the SBC Golf Centre: www.sbcgolfcentre.co.nz
PLAYING SURFACES: Colonial bentgrass.
COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Ryan Adams.
GREEN FEES: $NZD 195 (18 holes); Junior (U19) $NZD 95 (18 holes).
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