mrbojumbles

Shirley – She’s old, beautiful, and raised a boy named Bob

Post by: Reece Lightning

// August 5th, 2010 // Johnnie Walker's Iconic Courses, Quirky

It seemed only fitting in the month following Sir Bob Charles’ retirement from professional golf, to put Christchurch Golf Club – a club Sir Bob’s had a lifetime association with – under the spotlight to join the list of Johnnie Walker’s Iconic Courses.

Affectionately known as ‘Shirley’ after the large inner city suburb where it lies, the club was founded in 1873 – the second oldest in New Zealand behind Balmaceun, and the fifth oldest outside the United Kingdom and Ireland. This, combined with a host of prestigious tourneys under it’s generously sized belt, leaves no doubt that Christchurch Golf Club holds it’s place as an absolute icon of New Zealand golf.

(A mrbojumbles piece as seen on Johnnie Walker Golf Club)

New Zealand’s greatest ever golfer, Sir Bob Charles, became a junior member in 1956, was Club Champion in 1959, and it was from this club that he set out to seek his fortune as a professional golfer. Both of Sir Bob’s parents, Ivor and Phyl, lived in Christchurch and played at Shirley for many years, and Charles continued his association with the Club over the years and now serves as it’s Patron – this Charles family connection alone would have been enough to make the cut for our esteemed Iconic Courses feature.

The Club has hosted New Zealand Open Championships in 1910, 1921, 1925, 1931, 1935, 1950, 1956, 1964, 1968, 1974 and 1982. If you’re sporting a few greys, you might recall US professional Bob Gilder making birdie from under the trees on the 18th in 1974 to beat Sir Bob. And if you’re a full blown silver-fox, you might have fond memories of the Australian great Kel Nagle – seven time New Zealand Open champion and the 1960 British Open champion – winning in 1964 and 1968. Nagle’s second New Zealand Open victory in ’68 produced a course record 64 off the blue tees that still remains unsurpassed to this day 42 years on. Of the eleven national opens it’s hosted, Aussie Terry Gale’s maiden victory in ’82 was the last time the New Zealand Open has been contested at the Garden City’s finest.

However, its greatest honour was hosting the World Amateur Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy in 1990. The US team captain at the time, Deane Beman, described Shirley as the best prepared course on which the Eisenhower had been played on to date – an enormous compliment to Shirley and New Zealand Golf in general from an Eisenhower Trophy legend. The New Zealand side of Steven Alker, Michael Long, Grant Moorhead, and Brent Paterson tied for second with the USA team of Allen Doyle, David Duval, David Eger, and Phil Mickelson, behind the Swedes (Klas Eriksson, Mathias Gronberg, Gabriel Hjerstedt, and Per Nyman) – most of whom have gone onto successful careers in the pro ranks, notably Duval and Mickelson who need no introduction.

Outside of the tournaments mentioned, Shirley’s been a constant for professional, amateur, women’s, regional, trans-Tasman and national golf fixtures in New Zealand. The birth of the Charles Tour in 2008 now sees New Zealand’s best amateurs and professionals head to Christchurch over Labour Weekend to play for the club’s feature annual tourney – The Shirley Open. Be sure to pop in for a look-see if you’re in Christchuch for the long weekend.

The 6309 meter par 72 track off the blues, 6031 off the white’s, 5476 meter par 72 off the ladies is a Parklands style course with some nostalgic links characteristics coming through that offers pleasant outing for those who’ve recently acquired the golfing bug, and a healthy challenge for the Harry hard-outs. Five-time British Open Champion, World Golf Hall of Famer, and renowned course architect, Australian Peter Thomson, was elected to redesign the course back in the early 90s, his bunker placements and new holes (six, seven, eight and nine) are considered among the hardest in the country.

Sir Bob once proclaimed a few years back that the 4th at Shirley was the best hole in New Zealand prior to the new resort courses being built. Local member and good friend of mine – Andrew Guthrey – agrees, and considers the hole Shirley’s signature… “It’s not ideal on the eye as it’s near a road, but it offers numerous ways to play the hole. It’s brilliantly undulated and bunkers are excellently positioned to get the players thinking all sorts of different club selection. It’s a slight dog-leg to the right, with an elevated green, and out-of-bounds stretching all the way down the right and near the green on the left – a double figure score is not hard for any golfer. I witnessed the greatest shot by anyone who’s played Shirley – Phil Mickelson faded his second shot on the 4th over the road and around a bunch of pine trees. About a 200 meter shot that landed within six-feet of the hole – was epic to witness!”

The beautiful old clubhouse was built in 1926, and as you can imagine with rugby-mad Cantabs, it’s a popular place on a Saturday night at around 7:35pm in the winter. The feature room of the clubhouse – “The Sir Bob Charles Long Room” – is where you can find Charles’ winning clubs from his Open Championship triumph in 1963 along with many other pieces of his memorabilia. These days you might be lucky to see Sir Bob if he’s in town, but you’re more likely to bump into a Crusader, or two. The whole local Super Rugby team are given annual memberships and rumour has it that the legendary Dan Carter gets it round on about a 14 handicap.