Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club
Regarded by many as one of the greatest links course in the southern hemisphere, Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club is a world renowned layout on the undulating dune land of the Kapiti Coast. Located 35 minute’s drive from New Zealand’s Capital City, Wellington, the course has hosted the New Zealand Open 12 times, a record unsurpassed by any other course.
The course was designed in 1949 by former Australian Open champion Alex Russell, onetime partner of Dr Alistair McKenzie, the world renowned course architect. The great Australian golfer, Peter Thomson – winner of the British Open on five occasions and nine times New Zealand Open champion, had this to say about the course;
“I loved it instantly. We had nothing like it in Australia, which must have struck Alex Russell, who did the layout. Course designing approaches an art form, especially done in a perfect modelling medium like volcanic sand. Russell must have been ecstatic. What was left after his departure was a gem of enjoyment, a monument to the game and a gift to the future.
It has ranked as high as 71 by esteemed US magazine, Golf Digest’s world rankings of golf courses and has unquestionably become as its founders had hoped, a real asset to the game in New Zealand.
