We write our Spring Blog from Fiji on site in Denarau for the 2024 Sheraton Fiji Denarau Women’s Golf Classic – yes the sun is out and its hot! We have 96 ladies from NZ, Australia and Fiji all brightly dressed competing to win the coveted ‘Pineapple’ Trophy on the 20th anniversary of the tournament. Next week we will host a further 108 golfers in the Sheraton Fiji Villa Challenge Mixed Teams Tournament extending our ‘Fiji’ time by the pool and cocktail hour!
At the start of 2024 we set ourselves a personal challenge to play 100 different golf courses in the year – it’s now the end of August and we can report that we are up to #70 with Natadola done today! Only 30 to go!
The past 3 months has been a whirlwind world tour for the PaR nz Team hosting tours to Canada, Ireland, Scotland and France.
In June we ventured to the Canadian Rockies playing 11 championship courses over an 18-day tour. Canada is one of our favourite destinations and this was our 21st annual Canadian tour. June is the best time to view the snow-capped Rockies, play some iconic golf courses and there were plenty of bears and moose spotted too! If you have never played golf in Canada you need to add this destination to your ‘must do’. Our 2025 Canadian Tour is already sold out but register your interest now for June 2026.
From Vancouver we flew into Dublin to the magnificent Carton House to start our 2024 Tour of Ireland. Our itinerary took us from Dublin to Cork to Killarney to Limerick, finishing in Doonbeg. Our aim was to play a mix of great Irish links and parkland courses. Our first course was Carton House O’Meara which will host the Irish Women’s Open this weekend, then the K Club Ryder Cup course designed by no other than Arnie Palmer. On to Cork to play Old Head, the most photographed course in the world – I recorded 20,000 steps on my Fitbit that day – my golf was good - it was the walks along the cliffs to capture great views that did me in! We played Cork a 100-year old course designed by Alistair MacKenzie. Then on to stay at Europe’s Best Golf Resort Adare Manor and to play the 2027 Ryder Cup Course. Plans are afoot to vamp up the course ready for the infamous Europe v USA challenge. Our final 2 courses, the highly ranked Trump Doonbeg and Lahinch, capped off a fantastic tour in great Irish weather (believe it or not?).
From Ireland to Scotland, we started our tour at Trump Turnberry for The 152nd Open week which was just down the road at Royal Troon. The Open is truly one of the most magnificent sporting events one could ever attend and 2024 at Royal Troon did not disappoint. The wind off the sea blew like crazy. The course is not long but with narrow fairways, gorse and thick fescue which created havoc with the scores and quite a few big names missed the cut. Well done to Xander Schauffele the deserved winner of the Claret Jug. The PaR nz Team watched The Open from the luxurious comfort of the Hospitality Pavilion where we had team photographs with Sir Nick Faldo, John Daly and Greg Norman while the drama of the final day unfolded. For golf we played Trump Turnberry Ailsa and Robert The Bruce Courses – PaR nz favourites. Next year we are back to Royal Portrush for the 153rd - are you coming?
Then on to Paris to start our French Tour playing 11 courses over a 20-day itinerary. Attending the 2024 Paris Olympics was on our own Bucket List so we were delighted to host our group to 3 days at Golf Le National including watching Lydia Ko win her gold medal. An even bigger highlight was to personally chat with Lydia later that night at New Zealand House on the Champs de Élysées. Our Lydia is re-writing the history books as of today after her historic victory at St Andrews winning the Women’s British Open. Our French Tour was a mix of great French golf courses and iconic tourist spots including WW1 & WW2 historic sites, Loire Valley wine cellar and Chateau sites, the famous Mont St Michel, St Malo and the Brittany and Normandy Coasts. Along the coasts we played Hardelot, Le Torquet, Etretat, Dinard, Deauville and back in Paris we played the Olympic Course right after Lydia’s win, Chantilly, Les Aisses, Le Boulie, Courson and Fontainebleau. We bade a fond farewell to the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower and returned home to New Zealand.
Yes a busy 3 months but an exciting one with so many highlights. We are now ready for our upcoming 2024 tours to Danang and Tasmania along with several tournaments around New Zealand. Next to be released is the Barfoot & Thompson Bay of Plenty 5 Course Classic - details out next week.
Watch out for some new tours in 2025 and 2026 being released very soon.
Vinaka from Fiji - Kim & Denise
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