Inaugural Hastings Professional Golf Open ‘exceeded expectations’

It was literally all hands at the pump at the Hastings Golf Club over the weekend.

The club’s first foray as a Jennian Homes Charles Tour venue was beset by rain, which saw Saturday’s third
round of the Wallace Development Hastings Open abandoned.

Thankfully, Sunday dawned fine, enabling the tournament to go ahead as a 54-hole event, which was won by Wairarapa professional Harry Bateman.

If the club had been looking to find out how the course and their staff would cope in a crisis, then they got their answer.

“People loved it,” Hastings Golf Club head professional Brett Allan said.

“The weather was obviously something we couldn’t control, but the course was still magnificent. No surface water on Sunday, and you could hardly tell we’d had 40 millimeters of rain. The course played to an average of 74.02 [instead of 72]so it played over-par, which was interesting.”

The weather definitely didn’t detract from the sense of occasion at the club over the week of the tournament. The playing surface itself was in superb condition, and the way the signage, bleachers and sponsored vehicles from Bayswater were set up lent a real air of class to the proceedings.

Having put so much work into everything, club staff have been rather enjoying the calm after the storm.

“I was in a bunker on [hole number] 13 pumping water out of it on Saturday morning, and I’m a golf pro. So, it was ‘many hands make light work’ to get done what needed to be done,” Allan said.

“It was probably the hardest week of my career, in terms of playing, organizing, sorting, putting out fires, the weather – everything that could have been thrown at us was thrown at us, and the way the green staff coped with it was really admirable.”

Greenkeepers from Cape Kidnappers were also on duty, as part of a collective effort to portray Hawke’s Bay golf in its best light.

That part was successful, with Golf New Zealand very happy with what they saw.

With the golf side of things to everyone’s satisfaction, plans are already in place to make the event more festive.

The club has a further three years on its initial license to host the tournament and is keen to build the hospitality offering and perhaps tweak the draw, which saw club players paired with the professionals and elite amateurs for the final 36 holes.

“There are lots of opportunities, and we can definitely grow,” Allan said.

“The sponsors loved it and the buzz exceeded expectations.”