The Okareka Classic: Rotorua weekend of golf that’s lasted 50 years and counting

The golfing friends (pictured here in 1987) have been playing in their annual "Okareka Classic" since 1974.

In 1974, a few primary school friends from Auckland persuaded their wives to let them have a weekend away for time out from work and the opportunity to relax and play golf.

They headed to Lake Ōkāreka, Rotorua, where a golf tournament was played over a memorable weekend. Since then they’ve gathered each year at a chosen course vying to secure the coveted “Okareka Cup – for Incredible Golf” trophy.

Now, 50 years after that first tournament, the group of golfer friends have returned to where it all began, playing in Rotorua the first three days of November.

Bruce Wyness, the organiser, has been playing since the tournament began and said the boys’ weekend away tradition has grown as more friends have joined the “annual exodus”.

“The number of players over the last 50 years has ranged from four to 16 and this year there are 12 players.

The Okareka Classic group in 1980 when flares were still in fashion.

“There are only three of the originals left, most of us have been in the competition for at least 40 years. There are a few younger players, sons of the old codgers, so the next generation will ensure the tournament continues,” Wyness said.

He said the older players were now in their late 70s and intended to keep playing.

“We don’t have to plead for a weekend away now, the wives seem to be happy to have a weekend without us.”

Traditionally three games are played across a Friday, Saturday and Sunday and over the years the tournament format has changed, with the combination of the best two stableford results deciding the winner of the trophy.

This year marks the 50th time the trophy has been played for, with every winner engraved on the cup.

“It’s been a tradition to never actually get your name engraved,” Wyness said.

“You have a nickname or some other pseudonym engraved so if anyone looked at the cup, they wouldn’t know who won, only the people in the group.”

The Okareka Cup – for Incredible Golf.

Besides the camaraderie and storytelling created over time since 1974, Wyness said it would be excellent if someone got a hole-in-one.

“If we assume there are 10 players playing three games each year for 50 years that’s 1500 games and no one has ever got a hole-in-one.

“That’s the holy grail of golf so it would be wonderful if it happened this year,” he said.

Ken Grieve, a member of the original core, said most of the group originated from Auckland, with one from Palmerston North, one from Gisborne and one from Wellington.

“The tournament started with us travelling to Rotorua, and I would say over the 50 years by far Rotorua has been our favourite place.

“We had to come back to Rotorua, it’s 50 years. We would have been there the most, we’ve been around the upper half of the North Island over the years, but there’s just some nostalgia with Rotorua being the favourite place,” Grieve said.

In the early days, he said, the tournament was a fun weekend because not everyone played golf regularly.

Forty years of the Okareka Classic.

“It sort of just developed, starting in the beginning with a nucleus of four people and just by talking to each other and convincing others to come, we’ve made it an annual event.

“It’s about fellowship and also just being mates.

“We all want to participate and we’ve now got some sons involved just to keep the tradition” said Grieve.

Wyness and Grieve said the group tend to reminisce a lot, looking back on the fond memories that have been created over the past 50 years of the “Okareka Classic.”

“One of the guys in the group plays the guitar and sings and tells jokes a lot, so that’s sort of been a bit of a feature some years,” Wyness said.

Said Grieve: “The cup was lost one year and it took 24 hours before we recovered it. There was a lot of angst around that.”

The pair expect the tradition will continue through the younger generation, with some grandsons showing great golf skills. They may wheel out the originals to carry on the “Okareka Classic” for many years to come.

Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.