The north's top golf clubs: Western Bay Golf Club

By BOB PEARCE

It might pay to check the tide tables before playing a round at the Western Bay Golf Club on the shores of Tauranga Harbour at Omokoroa.

Six of the holes run along the harbour edge and one of them, the par-four eighth, crosses an arm of the estuary.

At spring high tide, you may find fish at your feet as you make your way from the tee.

On the other harbourside holes, wayward shots can find the water or, if you are lucky, the hard sand when the tide is out. The local children know that high-tide tournaments yield a good supply of balls when the water recedes.

Tauranga and Mt Maunganui are well-supplied with golf courses and Western Bay tends to be overlooked. But it is a scenic gem and provides a competitive test of golf on easy-going fairways and well-tended greens.

The club celebrated its 25th anniversary recently and many of the present members can look back with pride at the hard work that turned an area of farmland, orchard and swamp into such a good course.

Almost all the work was done by volunteers. Now some of the quick-growing trees are being culled to preserve the views, and replaced with sturdier stock.

Western Bay is not a true links course, but it has good drainage and is rarely closed. Once again, it is influenced by the flow of the tide.

Improved roading in the Tauranga area has made the course more accessible to city-dwellers, who make up a good proportion of the 750 members. But the club welcomes green-fee players, who are advised to book during the busy holiday period.

Tauranga has been fortunate that the terrain of the land lent itself to the formation of good golf courses.

Both the Tauranga and Mt Maunganui clubs have championship courses, with top golfers from the Commonwealth boosting a strong field for the national women's championship at the Mount last November.

Within walking distance of the Mt Maunganui club is the Omanu club with another testing 18 holes.

Western Bay offers a different type of course, but one that appeals just as much to the high proportion of retired people who keep the tees busy through the year.

* TOMORROW Whangamata