The first, and for that matter, only tournament on the 2000 Tongariro PGA Tour was the Solstice Shootout Pro-Am at the scenic Ruapehu Heights Country Club.
Editor’s note: a large photo from this unique event is in the Lodge lounge.
Seven players, Lyndsay Fletcher, Glynne Lloyd, Paul Cater, Keith Gerritson, Harry Smith (Ret.), Larry Cameron and yours truly, lined up for the event but first had to negotiate a rather lengthy walk from the car park to the first tee. Departing on the cloudy morning from Iwikau village, the 7 broke through the cloud within half an hour and then had to endure brilliant sunshine for the rest of the day. The golf bags were equipped with a few extra items; golf clubs aside most players carried ice axes, crampons and some rather warm clothing.
The views stretched from the peak of Mt Taranaki in the sou west to the top of Ngauruhoe in the nor west, while nestled below the cloud and amongst the crud, were a group of trampers. With such a nice golf course it was a wonder why they had opted for tramping! Harry Smith, a recently retired tramper had realised that tramping was best avoided and golf was a more suitable activity for ones latter years. With only a quarter of the journey covered most players opted to employ the longer the usual spikes on their golf shoes.
We arrived at the starters hut (Dome shelter) just before our midday tee-off, the views stunning, looking across the plateau on one side and down into the Crater Lake. Yours truly had taken several photos (I’m sure they were superb photos) with a camera minus one important item – film. Only when posing for a shot on the first tee, did I realise my stuff up!
Setting up on the first tee, the 213-metre “Crater Lake” hole, we spent time taking photos at this most scenic of golf holes. It was upon seeing this golf hole, one realises that it was not rocks that exploded out of this mountain during the eruption of 1995.
Before tacking the holes across the plateau (Ruapehu Heights version of “Amen Corner”), the 7 golfers paused for lunch. Nestled on a sheltered ledge with stunning views across the plateau, tactics and club selection were discussed as it was always going to be a problem with distances difficult to judge.
Following the luncheon, 
most players opted to tee off with a driver, opting for distance, considering accuracy of lesser concern as a result of lack of trees on this hole (well, they had no choice, stuff carrying up a full set of 14 clubs!). Harry Smith had obviously received dispensation from the PGA for his dress code, the usual golfing cap or visor replaced by a multi-coloured Jesters hat complete with bells.
The tee was a little slippery as a result of recent weather conditions and most players opted to continue wearing the longer spikes on their golf shoes. Shots were hit from the tee adjacent to our lunch spot. Determining distances was thought to be difficult, well, it more even more difficult than anticipated – the golf balls disappearing into the vast plateau below. We headed down the steep slope to the fairway and surprisingly had minimal difficulty locating the balls.
The third hole involved hitting back towards the ridge leading to Dome. The green, well actually the “white” was nestled at the base of the steep slope. It was clearly evident that the low trajectory shot was quite effective in the alpine conditions on the course.
The forth hole again headed along the plateau, running parallel to the ridge with the white nestled just before a valley that seemed to plummet a long way down.
Finally we had a lengthy stroll down the mountain to the final hole, aptly named “Valley”. A raised tee area was ideally sited, the players hitting in the direction of Mt Ngauruhoe hoping to draw the ball from right to left and down the valley towards the hole. At this point with the players well warmed up (and now getting used to the rather long spikes on their golf shoes), their thoughts turned to the prodigious hitting of Tiger Woods. Woods, known for his long tee shots, commonly astounds spectators and commentators with his ability to hit the ball 300 plus metres, but even Tiger would have been left in awe today. Fletcher and Newton started to focus on the long drive competition and after some incredible hitting from both it was going to be a lengthy walk to determine the winner. Glynne Lloyd disappointingly miss-hit from the elevated tee only sending his shot 200 metres. Lloyd then determined that the narrow valley required the accuracy of an iron, so he took the Camp Nuptse 60cm from his bag and proceeded to use the lengthy run on the fairway to craft a delightful shot. After walking for 700 metres we arrived at a collection of golf balls nestled close together (within 3 metres). Stand aside Tiger, can you hit 700 metres, or lets see you hit an iron 500 metres?
I then proceeded to test out my iron play after a day with the driver, only to find that it may be better suited to other uses as the ice axe snapped in two.
After a great day, we packed up the clubs and headed down the mountain arriving at the 19th (the Wellington Tramping and Golfing Club lodge) just in time for sunset. Colonel Fletcher obviously had followed the strict dress standard for the clubhouse, arriving in jacket, tie and drain plunger! Well that’s a whole other story!
The return trip to Wellington, was a memorable one as Harry Smith proved he a closet Abba fan – the louder the music got, the more animated he got!