It’s difficult for me to assign a ‘most hated hole’ at my favourite Wellington golf course – Wainuiomata. Especially considering that the affiliated green fees are very reasonable: weekends and public holidays $35; weekdays $30; Mondays (except public holidays) $25.
I think this layout has everything to challenge every level of golfer:
- drivable par 4 requiring a lengthy carry over a ravine
- water
- doglegs
- straight holes
- par 3 crossing a river
- risk and reward par 5 with a meandering creek
- elevated greens
- great use of the natural terrain and trees
- wonderful setting where the noise of speeding cars is replaced by the ‘whomp-whomp’ of lumbering kereru
Thank god for the peaceful setting because you need to be calm when you get to the most hated hole – the 5th.
Looks great from this angle because you’re looking in the opposite direction.
No ponds between you and the hole, no creeks, no ravines, and no elevated green. But it’s still a sod of a hole. Because it’s not just a double dogleg, it’s pretty much a triple dogleg.
The tee is offset to the right. There is a line of very large trees on the right side so you have to aim your tee shot left. There’s a reasonable amount of room on the left, but go too far left and you’re out of bounds.
If you manage to get your tee shot on the fairway, the further left you are, the tighter the gap for your second shot. (The green is tucked around to the left.) Those trees on the left are reachable for your second. Actually, I think grab-able would be a better word.)
Well, fancy that. I’ve hit my ball straight into them. How surprising.
I have played this shot from this spot so often, that I’m pretty good at it. However, the rough is long and grabs your club so it’s difficult to get much length. But I’ve managed to advance it far enough so that it’s only a 9 iron to a large green, which slopes fairly steeply from back to front. (Which is good, because if you nut your 9 iron, there’s a pond through the back.)
Just a bunker between me and the hole, plus another bunker on the right. It’s there to put the ‘don’t shank’ thought in your head, jostling with the ‘don’t be short and dump it in the bunker’, which will be muscling up against ‘water long’.
And I didn’t shank. I yanked the ball way left of the bunker because ‘straight shot onto the green’ hasn’t got a show of elbowing into my consciousness. I’m inexorably moving closer to my target, and finally, the ball is on the green.
Three-putting completed, we huddle together around the flag (misery loves company) and, because there’s no one behind us so we’re not holding anyone up, we try to remember our scores. With much scratching of heads, wild gesticulations and tut-tutting, everyone eventually agrees and remarks that, isn’t it great that really big scores get scaled back for handicapping purposes.
So, how do you play the Wainuiomata 5th? Well, in the above photos, I wasn’t changing my clothes between shots, in an attempt to fool the golfing gods as to who was playing. The photos are of two different golfers, and that’s the secret to playing this hole. You need all the help you can get, so play foursomes on this one.
If nothing else, at least you’ve got someone to blame.
The Quirky Golfer 