One of New Zealand's oldest clubs, tracing back to a six-hole layout in 1911 and re-established as a nine-hole course in 1937, Arrowtown Golf Club is consistently ranked in the country's national top 10 and has appeared on international lists of the world's best short courses. The course is notable for having no sand bunkers at all.
This course is in our GSPro library — pull it up in any bay and play it wall to wall.
"No bunkers doesn't mean no defense: the rolling, tree-lined terrain beneath the Otago mountains asks for accuracy off the tee and a deft short game around firm, undulating greens."
Golf first came to the old gold-mining town of Arrowtown in 1911, but the modern club dates to 1935, when a dozen locals secured 90 acres along the Arrowtown-Arrow Junction Road and laid out nine holes themselves, opening for play in 1937; the first clubhouse was a church outbuilding bought for fifteen pounds. A second nine, added on leasehold land across the road in the early 1970s, completed today's 18 holes. Set in a glacial vale beneath the ranges near Queenstown, the course tumbles over severely undulating ground, through rocky outcrops and against postcard mountain backdrops, and famously does it without a single sand bunker. It is regularly named among New Zealand's most picturesque courses and remains proudly a members-built country club at heart.
Queenstown visitors wanting authentic, inexpensive Kiwi club golf with world-class scenery, and lovers of quirky, natural, bunker-free layouts over manicured resort fare.
The opening par 3 over a broad mound sets the tone, the 3rd has a fabulous mountain backdrop, the short par-4 7th and 9th play from elevated tee pads, and the finisher is a blind par 4 over a severe hillside.
Short by modern standards but full of humps, hollows, rock and blind shots; newer golfers should embrace the quirk, club down off elevated tees and expect some funny bounces.
Par 70 and about 5,400 metres (roughly 5,900 yards), so it's short and fun on a simulator, but the blind shots, wild undulation and improvised lies that define Arrowtown simply can't be digitised.
Public-welcome members' club: non-affiliated walking green fees around NZ$65, international rates near NZ$140, with clubs, trundlers and carts for hire year-round.
Source: web verified · medium confidence