Nelson Golf Club

Bolt Road,

Tahunanui, Nelson

  • Office

    +64 (0)3 548 5029
  • Pro shop

    +64 (0)3 548 5028
  • Fax

    +64 (0)3 548 5006
  • Golf pro

    Ken Allan

About the course

  • The Course:

    18 holes. Links-style. Relatively flat terrain - easy to walk.

  • Surroundings:

    Seaside and a small aerodrome.

  • Designer:

    Since 1905 the layout has continually evolved on its present site.

Back
tees
Club
tees
Front
tees
Metres
6327
6042
5414
Par
72
72
73
SSS or slope
72.9
71.5
74.1

Location

Latitude:

-41.291996

Longitude:

173.233463

How to get there:

2 km SW of Nelson

On the south-west side of Nelson, follow Hwy 6 direction Richmond / Tahunanui. At double roundabout near main beach follow Hwy 6 direction Richmond (Tahunanui Drive). After 1.5 km turn right into Parkers Road. After 1 km at roundabout turn left into Bolt Road. Golf entrance is on your right in Bolt Road.

Nelson Golf Club

3-PLUS: Good course - several memorable features; worthy of 3½ stars.

Est. 1897

Nelson Golf Club: The hills and hillside houses around the popular holiday resort of Nelson are in full view from the opening par-5 hole on what locals call the Tahunanui Links. At the par-4 2nd, beautiful Tasman Bay, with the Tasman mountains as a backdrop, comes stunningly into the picture.

With these sea and mountain views as constant companions, this rather compact and lightly tree-lined layout winds back and forth along pleasantly undulating fairways. The setting simultaneously feels both seaside-links and parkland in nature.

The back-nine just gets the edge over the front in terms of interest and challenge, although the whole layout fits together well. The greens here are well-paced and often quite large, with good quality greenside bunkering.

The only minor distractions from this delightful seaside course are the relatively infrequent comings and goings of light aircraft from the adjacent Nelson airport. Although the planes take-off and come into land over the golf course, the noise created is far removed from the jet-engined roar of their much bigger cousins, which thankfully do not use the Nelson airstrip.

List of courses: NZ - South Island

Visitors

Who can play and when?

Visitors welcome on weekdays and weekends.

Must book in advance.

Green fees

Contact club for green fee details.

Other information

Non-metal spike facility. Walking permitted at all times. Golf carts available for hire.

Practice facilities

Limited

Did you know?

Nelson Golf Club has one of the severest penalties in golf - up to three months in prison if you try to retrieve your golf ball from an area designated as Out of Bounds, i.e. the adjacent airport runway. When you are on the course, aircraft in the process of taking-off or approaching to land, understandably have right of way!

Nelson is a bustling provincial town and holiday resort, regularly rated as having the lowest annual rainfall and most sunshine hours of any New Zealand location - a wonderful place to visit.

Published ranking

New Zealand's 38th best course (Australian Golf Digest, 2023/24).

Where2Stay

  • Airport Greens Motel3-star

    Golf Haven Way (off Bolt Road), Tahunanui, Nelson

    +64 (0)3 546 4341

    Visit website
    • Golf at this hotel:

      Nelson

    • Golf within 10 km:

      No

    • Golf within 30 km:

      No

  • Kingsgate Hotel - Beachcomber Nelson3-star

    23 Beach Road, Tahunanui, Nelson

    +64 (0)3 548 5985

    Visit website
    • Golf at this hotel:

      No

    • Golf within 10 km:

      Nelson

    • Golf within 30 km:

      No

Find a course

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Tournaments

124th US Open: the No.2 Course at Pinehurst once again plays host to this most illustrious championship (June 13-16). Wyndham Clark defends his title, having won at Los Angeles CC in 2023.

79th Women’s US Open: the second women’s major championship of the season gets underway at Lancaster CC in Pennsylvania. It’s the second time the championship has been held here.
(May 30-June 2).

Who's Who

Nelly Korda: won the Mizuho Americas Open (May 16-19) at Liberty National GC, continuing her extraordinary form in LPGA events. This was her sixth win in seven starts in 2024.

Xander Schauffele: recorded his first major championship win, and second record-equalling low score of 62 in a major. Only he, Branden Grace, Rickie Fowler and Shane Lowry have achieved this feat in a men’s major championship.

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Jim Fazio's original layout was much changed to create a modern Ryder Cup course ... now one of the Eternal City's (and Italy's) most revered.

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Stay&Play at Prince's: excellent onsite Lodge accommodation available

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