Dangals NZ Open Golfing Adventure

[Dangals]

For those that may not have seen a thread earlier I won the competition being run by Michael Hill Jewellery for a spot in the Pro-Am for the NZ Open being held in Queenstown! So I am going to use this as a means of recording this amazing experience and all of the things that happen during my stay in Queenstown NZ. The Pro-am is just like the Pebble Beach event on the PGA Tour where the amateurs play in the same field as the pro's at two courses on the first two days and then on Saturday the cut is the top 60 Pro's and the top 40 Pro-Am teams. This is followed by a cut on the Sunday to just the top 10 pro-am teams to compete for the prizes.

We arrived just after 1pm on Sunday and we were greeted by one of the staff for the NZ Open who shuttled us back to the Hilton Hotel which is where we have been put up for the week. After checking into our room we then took a water taxi over the bay to Queenstown itself and walked around stopping at a few pubs to sample the local brews. Then back to the Hilton again where there is a pub attached to the hotel that we found and stayed at for a while.

Today I headed out to Millbrook to play one of my 2 practice rounds prior to the Open starting and practically had the whole course to myself. It turns out that most of the other players weren’t flying in till today or tomorrow so during my round I only saw one other golfer. I did see Matt Griffin on the putting green after I finished my round but other than that it was just myself and my caddy… Oh that’s right we get our own caddies for the event. Mine is a bloke from the states who has come down to NZ for a month and is caddy at one of the multi-course resorts back in the states.

Having never had a caddy before it was weird having him carry my clubs and do things like rake the bunkers etc. It was however very cool discussing certain holes and how they play and what clubs to hit. Plus as we had the course to ourselves we tended to hit multiple clubs on each hole to see where it would leave my approach into the green etc. Another thing that is awesome compared to normal golf back home is at the range this morning you are given a bucket of Pro V1 balls to use rather than the usual crappy balls we get back home.

I really enjoyed the course and its layout – the fact that lots of holes have multiple ways of playing them is good and the variety of holes means that it’s not just the same thing hole after hole. Plus the scenery is just absolutely stunning with the mountains all around it was hard sometimes not to stop and just look around for a while. Millbrook has 3 nines attached to the course and for the Open we are playing the Arrow and Coronet nines.

Tomorrow my father and I are playing a social round at Jack’s Point which was another part of the prize that I won and then on Wednesday I have another practice round booked, this time at The Hills. Then on Thursday the comp starts.

I will pop back in and record my thoughts on the other courses and more about the whole event as progresses.

[Shreko]

Great reporting Dangals, I look forward to hearing more about your amazing trip!!!

[Steve57]

Well done Dangals!
Like Shreko I look forward to hearing more of your week.

[davepuppies]

That sounds awesome Dan, sounds like you are already having a blast!

Hope you play well in the pro am!

[Captain Nemo]

Holy shit mate, awesome prize!
#jelousmuch :)

[PerryGroves]

Looking forward to the reports mate, sounds like its all sorted for punters over there. Think you wil enjoy Jacks tomorrow.

[jimandr]

I'm assuming this isn't on Australian TV, but would it be on NZ TV? If so, there will probably be some YouTube evidence eventually.

I'm also sure Dan will tell us who his pro group is and how he goes, so in due course we might be able to find him on YouTube.

Looking forward to more reports, and possible video records of the Dangals Golfing Adventure.

[backintheswing]

I have watched this tournament previously on Fox. Not sure about this week though.

[Dcanto]

If you had the time and the inclinatio Dangals I would recommend having a hit at the local Arrowtown golf course not far from Queenstown. It won't be in the same league as where you are getting to play (and it doesn't pretend to be) but it is just damn good fun having a hit there.

[Dangals]

Thanks lads - yeah it has been a blast so far.

It is definately being broadcast on NZ TV but no idea about FOX back in Aus. They had the drones out today doing fly overs of the holes out at Millbrook which was interesting to see.

It is unlikely that we will have time to play arrowtown as we fly out Monday just after the tournament finishes but are squeezing in a round at Millbrook before we fly out as part of the prize got me 2 rounds at Millbrook, Jacks Point and The Hills but unfortunately they are not re-opening the The Hills for at least a week after the tournament so I wont be able to use that while I am here.

Should find out who my pro is today or tomorrow but not holding my breath for one of the bigger names as I am sure there are some am's with deeper pockets than me who will have an influence on who they get paired with. Steve Williams is going to be a caddy for two different amateurs on Thursday and Friday but you had to pay $5k per day for the privilege (money goes to charity but damn that's an expensive caddy for the day).

More to report later today after the round

[Dangals]

I am not sure where to start to describe today....

This morning after hiring a car we drove 45mins or so back up north to the Highlands Motorsport Park at Cromwell where I got to partake in a BMW event being run in conjunction with the NZ Open as BMW are the main title sponsor. Basically we were given the opportunity to drive 1 of 4 cars (M6 coupe, M235i, X6M, 435M Grand Touring) doing guided laps around the track. We then had a competition in two events, one being an acceleration and braking test.... all I can say about the M235 is that it is a rocket, nothing better than taking a suped up car and just flooring it. I got pipped by 2 100ths of a sec by a rally car driver so not unhappy about that. Next we did a skid pan slalom and again I got pipped by about 2 10ths of a sec by of the other drivers. Lastly to finish off the day we got taken for 2 hot laps by the instructor in an M3 and holy shite he absolutely hammered this thing. But to him it looked like we were just driving down to the shops. Best thing was due to the smaller numbers of our group my dad got to go in the 2nd group in the hot lap and he just stepped out with a grin from ear to ear. My highlight was taking the M6 coupe for a couple of laps and just hammering it whenever possible. My god that car is a thing of beauty....

After this we drove back to Queenstown and proceeded to play the best course I have ever been to in Jacks Point. For anyone who is thinking of coming to NZ to play golf at some point you absolutely must play this place. Puts NSW to shame. The course itself is absolutely immaculate and the holes are all different and once you get up on top of the ridge the views are just staggering. It is truly hard to describe and to be honest I would never feel it does it enough justice. Somewhere I would come back to at the drop of a hat. I got a few pictures and will look at loading some up when I have some time.

Tomorrow brings a practice round at the Hills and I have been allocated Marcus Cain as my Pro for the actual event and our first round is at Millbrook on Thursday at 7.45 as the first group off in a group of 3.

[spanner039]

Holy shit mate, awesome prize!
#jelousmuch :)

f'me Big +1!!!!!!!! I always wondered who or if anyone actually won these things.

What a ripper, great write ups as well mate well done.

[Dangals]

f'me Big +1!!!!!!!! I always wondered who or if anyone actually won these things.

What a ripper, great write ups as well mate well done.

Thanks mate, To be honest I was the same way and then I got the call from the lovely lady at Michael Hill telling me I had won.... my first response to her was along the lines of piss off this is a gee up right?! She just laughed and said she had the exact same response last year when they did this.

Everything so far has been awesome - I mean I just ran into Ricky Ponting at the bar in the hotel whilst we wait for our dinner reservation... lovely bloke and looking forward to hopefully meeting some of the other major players at our various functions over the next few days.

[Dangals]

Here are a couple of shots off the phone - got some more on Dads phone which I will try and upload over the next day or two.

This is the 9th Green on the Coronet Nine at Millbrook - completely surrounded by water except for the front.
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This is the view from the 1st tee of the Remarkables Nine at Millbrook
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BmW M6 coupe
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Practice Green at Jacks Point
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Another view from the practice Green at Jacks Point
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The beers at the club house afterwards overlooking the dam/18th
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[spanner039]

Hows the form?

And what a great bonding session with the oldman, enjoy.

[3Puttpete]

You in here?

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[Dangals]

Hows the form?

And what a great bonding session with the oldman, enjoy.

Form is pretty good, practice round at Millbrook was good and shot 5 over at Jack's point today which I am stoked about having never seen the course before and was 7 over for holes 10 though 15... Just got to spend a bit more time on the range to fine tune a few things and it should be right. Biggest thing will be the nerves

[Dangals]

You in here?

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No that was the afternoon session with just celebs. We had the morning session. Same place though and Awesome experience

[PerryGroves]

Lost for words, as the great Johnny Miller would say, wow. Pointing hits it a mile for a little bloke.

[live4golf]

Fantastic Dan...enjoy the experience.

Win it for OG :)

[Captain Nemo]

Remember in Ozgolf tradition you need Cain to hold an " Ozgolf Rules" sign and pic!!!!!

[jimandr]

Big News.

The NZ Open is on Foxsports. 2.00pm today, 1.00pm Friday according to my EPG. I didn't look ahead to the weekend.

So we have to cheer for Marcus Cain to go well, and then we may be able to check out Dangals and his form.

[Dangals]

Right round one done.

To start it was fkn cold when we tee'd off this morning at 7.45am as the first group off at Millbrook. Proceeded to smash a drive down the first and had 175m left to the opening par 5 - proceeded to thin my approach shot only to watch it skirt the bunker and roll right up to the hole and stop 2 feet short. With shaky hands tapped in the eagle and got our team under way. After that I am not sure if it was a mixture of nerves or the cold but I could never find a groove all day and would proceed to have 1 good shot and then 1 bad shot - made some nice pars on a couple of holes where I got a shot to keep our team score kicking along but compared to the last 3 days I played very poorly. Marcus started well making the turn in 1 under but 2 soft bogeys and a number of lip outs for birdie saw him finish on 1 over for the day. As a team we finished with a score of -5 which whilst still ok it is well behind the leaders at -12. Need a solid round tomorrow at the Hills to make the weekend cut.

It was lots of fun to be walking inside the ropes during the event rather than just watching from outside and I am really looking forward to tomorrow at the Hills to try and redeem myself.

Going to rest this afternoon as after the early morning and frustrating day I am a little worn out. We tee off at 12.15 from the 10th at the Hills and yes all 4 rounds are going to be shown on Fox to some extent however I think the weekend is only showing an hour or two so most likely just highlights.

[spanner039]

The crowd erupt on the 1st?

[Dangals]

The crowd erupt on the 1st?

Mate it was so cold and dark there was no-one on the course, just us.... Hit a few wedges in close towards the end that got some applause but no-one other than my playing partners and the caddies saw the eagle... not even my dad who had run to the crapper after we tee'd off and I told him when he caught up with us on the 2nd hole... bloody typical

[spanner039]

Really hope you make the cut, telecast starts in a few mins.

[Peppas]

Great stuff Dan! Just enjoy the experience mate, I daresay very few of us will get to experience what you are experiencing right now!

[Dangals]

Really hope you make the cut, telecast starts in a few mins.

Thanks mate - currently sitting T38 so a solid round tomorrow should see us inside the top 40.


Great stuff Dan! Just enjoy the experience mate, I daresay very few of us will get to experience what you are experiencing right now!

I know mate - I have to try and remember that however as I was just striping it in the practice rounds for it to be so different today was what got me down a bit. However tomorrow is another day and the later start will allow me to get a good nights sleep and better prep before the round so fingers crossed it is better. But you are absolutely right that at the end of the day it is just an amazing experience and regardless of what happens I will take a lot from this.

[Peppas]

Damn right, but all the same, you can flush it so do it! And good luck making the cut!

[matty]

Well, didn't you get kissed on the d by an angel!!

Enjoy mate.

You're really seeing how the other half live but I also bet there's a new appreciation for having to perform to put food on the table.

[Dangals]

Well, didn't you get kissed on the d by an angel!!

Enjoy mate.

You're really seeing how the other half live but I also bet there's a new appreciation for having to perform to put food on the table.

Absolutely on both counts mate... Seen some that have more money than they probably know what to do with and met a few pros that fight it out week to week just to survive... It has been a real eye opener.

[Captain Nemo]

Here's your five minutes of fame Dan....!

[jimandr]

Excellent work to capture that Captain.

Scoring was pretty hot on the Hills, so Marcus Cain is giving away a big headstart. I hope Dangals hasn't burnt himself out, as he might have to carry his team a bit to get any genuine TV time.

In today's coverage most of it was from The Hills, so if it is the same tomorrow, we are some sort of chance of seeing Dan. But we might need to be quick.

Go Dan.

[PeteyD]

That is great! Go Dan!

[Dangals]

So I have some mixed emotions about today - we have missed the team cut which was set at 13 under as we ended up on 10 under for the team. However today I shot a career round shooting ever par off the stick whilst my pro shot 4 or 5 over without a single birdie today.

As for my round we started on the 10th at the Hills today and it is a tough par 3 to start and I proceeded to hit a great shot online with the pin that took a big bounce into one of the back bunkers and couldn't get up and down for par. I then made a birdie on the next hole to get us back level with the card. Went par then bogey then came to the party hole, the par 4 15th which is 340m but plays a lot less due to the tee boxes being 15-20m above the green, I hit an amazing drive right online with the pin and finished 1m off the front fringe and 2 putted for birdie. Then went par on the tough par 3 16th which with a back right pin position was impossible to get close. Next was the par 5 17th and again I hit a career drive and only had a 7 iron into the green and again two putted for birdie. Next came the one hole I regret which was the par 4 18th. I hit an awesome drive over the rise to the middle of the fairway to leave myself about 140 in and stuffed my approach to about 3 feet but above the hole... This is where the grandstand was and there would have been easily 150 people watching and I proceeded to 3 putt the hole as my hands were just shaking like crazy. So back to 1 over, then came the par 5 first and from the amateur tees this is really just a long par 4 as I had driver 7 iron in and again 2 putted for birdie to get me back level with the card. I then went par, par, par, birdie, par, par, bogey to finish at even with the card.

I am both elated and dissapointed as I played really well but just bummed about my pro playing badly as pair me with 75% of the remaining pros and we would have made the weekend cut by heaps...I mean we had -10 as our team score over the two days and all 10 over those shots are from my score.... give me another pro who shoots a few birdies and the odd bogey and we would get in easy..... Still I have learned tonnes and I am really happy with how my game has held together for the most part under the situation/pressure. Plus I have met some really interesting people along the way. For instance I played both yesterday and today with one of NZ's leading young amateurs who earned his spot into the field and unfortunately missed the cut by 1 shot but he was an absolute pleasure to play with and I learned heaps from him as we went around.

Tomorrow the amateurs who missed the cut all play at Jack's Point in another competition so that is a nice consolation for not making the weekend cut and then Sunday we have free access to the course as well as the players lounge/bar overlooking the 18th so I will undoubtedly head there for the odd free beverage or two, or three etc...

I will chime in again tomorrow and give an update with how the round goes at Jack's Point but for now adieu...

[live4golf]

You should not have mixed emotions mate, you should only have one emotion....pride! What a sensational effort, to shoot even par at a course that is new to you under such immense pressure (for a 'weekend hacker'). What a stellar effort and a superb experience.

[SundayHack]

Well done awesome experience. Cain had +8 for the day to by the way. I played a local pro am with him last year. I would say he would have been pissed you giving him a pasting.

[Icestorm959]

Piss poor showing from your pro, but you did yourself proud mate, enjoy the rest of the adventure!

[Dangals]

Well done awesome experience. Cain had +8 for the day to by the way. I played a local pro am with him last year. I would say he would have been pissed you giving him a pasting.

To be honest once he made a bogey on the first hole I think he was mentally gone, after his second bogey a few holes later it was definately all over... I would be pissed to be beaton by 8 shots by an amateur as well.... not to mention the 3rd player in our group was a young NZ amateur who would sometimes hit a drive to the same point as me but off the pro tee's (so seriuosly long but not stupidly long) and he beat Marcus by 10 legitimate shots let alone the couple of mine that were made by pars on holes I had a shot on (which only happened once today as the other 5 were actual birdies).


Piss poor showing from your pro, but you did yourself proud mate, enjoy the rest of the adventure!

Will do mate and yes I agree on the pro front.


You should not have mixed emotions mate, you should only have one emotion....pride! What a sensational effort, to shoot even par at a course that is new to you under such immense pressure (for a 'weekend hacker'). What a stellar effort and a superb experience.

In hindsight I don't, and the more I dwell on it the better I feel about how I handled the whole thing as it could have seriuosly dragged me down but I just ignored it and did my best to drag the team through to the weekend. I 100% agree with you mate about the course as I had 1 practice round on each course and then a pga sanctioned round so to play as I have is an amazing feat and there is nothing that will drag me back from that. I guess that I set some high expectations initially and I am just disappointed that my pro fell well short. Thanks for the support and I will take that into tomorrow with the round at Jacks Point. At the moment all I can think about is how I can get an entry into next year's event so I can have another crack with a different pro.

[Dcanto]

Well done Dangals and have fun at Jacks Point.

[jimandr]

I hope these rounds are going into Golflink so you get handicapped on this. Those courses look like they would have big slope scores too.

[matty]

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[Courty]

Good read on what would have been an awesome experience! Got any pics you can show us?

[Shreko]

Great effort Dangals, cherish every memory mate!!!!! and pics for when you get old and forget!!!!

[Pencil]

. not to mention the 3rd player in our group was a young NZ amateur who would sometimes hit a drive to the same point as me but off the pro tee's (so seriuosly long but not stupidly long) and he beat Marcus by 10 legitimate shots let alone the couple of mine that were made by pars on holes I had a shot on (which only happened once today as the other 5 were actual birdies).



Vaughan, blond kid that lives a couple of hours south of Queenstown?

[Dangals]

I hope these rounds are going into Golflink so you get handicapped on this. Those courses look like they would have big slope scores too.

I doubt it but if they do I imagine you would be right.


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Thanks mate


Good read on what would have been an awesome experience! Got any pics you can show us?

Thanks courty - I probably will but I just haven't had time to go through them just yet. Once I am back home I will probably do so over the next couple of days and will upload some.


Great effort Dangals, cherish every memory mate!!!!! and pics for when you get old and forget!!!!

Thanks mate - absolutely however i am not sure I will be able to forget!


Vaughan, blond kid that lives a couple of hours south of Queenstown?

Yep that's him - awesome lad who I had a blast playing with and I will try and catch up with again as he indicated he would be coming over to aus to play some events either later this year or next year.

[chappy1970]

Super effort Dan

[mrbluu]

Great work Dan!!!

[PerryGroves]

You should not have mixed emotions mate, you should only have one emotion....pride! What a sensational effort, to shoot even par at a course that is new to you under such immense pressure (for a 'weekend hacker'). What a stellar effort and a superb experience.

Yep, couldn't have said it better.

[spanner039]

like button pushed

[Coldtopper]

Well played Dan and hope you took lots of photos.

[Pencil]

Yep that's him - awesome lad who I had a blast playing with and I will try and catch up with again as he indicated he would be coming over to aus to play some events either later this year or next year.

Known him for years, think he was around 14 when I first seen him play, hit it nowhere back then but always down the middle. I heard he went to Q-School this year and missed out so hes staying an am for another year.

[Dangals]

Super effort Dan


Great work Dan!!!


like button pushed


Yep, couldn't have said it better.

Thanks boys


Well played Dan and hope you took lots of photos.

Thanks CT - I took some (haven't had time to look as it was straight back to work today) but to be honest I was too busy half the time to stop and take photos (which I will probably regret later)


Known him for years, think he was around 14 when I first seen him play, hit it nowhere back then but always down the middle. I heard he went to Q-School this year and missed out so hes staying an am for another year.

Yeah he mentioned something along those lines - based on what I saw it probably won't be too long before we see him out there competing.

[Dangals]

My Apologies for the wall of text but wanted to do a final wrap up of sorts,

It was a busy last few days with the Jack’s Point Challenge running on Saturday morning and whilst that was a bit of fun it was also quite possibly the longest round I have ever played. The format was 4 amateurs and 1 pro and the best 3 stableford points counted towards the team score. My 3 other playing partners were all on a handicap of 19 or higher and for anyone who has played Jack’s Point will know that it a fairly challenging golf course. Also 2 of these guys had insanely long pre-shot routines that are probably only outdone by good old Keegan Bradley and this resulted in a 6 hour round of golf…. In carts as well I might add. Thankfully a couple of the people including the Pro we played with were easy to talk to and we did have a few laughs but by the last few holes it was starting to be a bit painful.

After the golf was finished we had food and drinks at the clubhouse overlooking the lake and they gave away the prizes to the top 4-5 teams and the prizes were pretty staggering (they had probably 5 x Scotty Cameron’s, 10 different Cobra clubs (Drivers, fairways, hybrids), travel bags, coffee makers, watches etc… truly amazing.

Later that night we then caught a shuttle up to Coronet Peak for the major function of the trip which was basically just free drinks and food and lots of big wigs were there – the NZ Prime Minister, the host of the Amazing Race (never knew he was a kiwi) plus all the cricketers like Ponting and Warne etc. It was an interesting evening as the first thing we saw when we entered the venue was a female acrobat hanging upside down from some device suspended in the air pouring people champagne. Unfortunately both Dad and I forgot our phones and so I don’t have any photos of the evening but to put it simply it was pretty over the top. I met a number of interesting people and got a glimpse at how some of the wealthier people spend their time.

On Sunday we headed out to the course and watched the final round at The Hills and spent some time both out on the course as well as in the Champions lounge which had free food and drink (which we took advantage of) and saw the final shot by the winner Zuric where he hit the pin and nearly holed on the 18th – his story is interesting as well considering what he went through to get there let alone win. Basically he Monday qualified for the NZ PGA the previous week and finished 5th which got him the entry into the Open – let alone the car accident 19 months ago that nearly killed him.

Monday Dad and I attempted to play Millbrook using one of the vouchers I won however we had the worst weather of the whole week where it was raining and windy and felt like it was about 1 degree most of the time. We got grouped together with the guy who caddied for Matthew Guyett in the open and he was pretty cool and had a few laughs as we struggled in the weather. He and I played the course of the same tees as the pros did in the open and it is a much different course from back there and on top of that we agreed the greens-keepers had some revenge as the pin positions were brutal compared to during the open. There was one hole where you literally could not stop the ball unless it went in – one of us putted to hole high just to the side and it stopped then rolled back down to our feet…insane.

From there it was straight back to the airport where we discovered that the flights they had booked us to come back to syndey in were in the business class/premium economy section which was awesome as you get all the extras like food and drink and the bigger chair etc. A really nice way to finish off what has definitely been the best experiences I have ever had around golf. For those that are contemplating a golfing holiday I really cannot recommend Queenstown enough as between The Hills and Jack's Point let alone Millbrook, you have a short trip to some absolutely amazing courses - for me The Hills is by far the best course I have ever walked on let alone played and I cannot recommend it enough.

I will post up some more of the pics over the next few days once I can get them from Dad but here are a couple from my phone from the Hills during my practice round.

The 6th hole at the Hills - basically the further down the fairway you go the narrower it gets and regardless it is still a full water carry to a two tiered green - awesome hole.
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If you hit any of the artwork around the course it is a free drop.
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The view to the side of the 18th tee box - they are going to build a 9 hole par 3 course down this hill running down next to the 18th.
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The view down the 18th from the amateur tee box - it was about 230m to carry those bunkers down the left but on the other side the fairway is really narrow or you can go right of them but run out of room around 240-250m and have to carry the gully/bunker to reach the green.
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Here is the 18th green (yes that bunker is rediculously deep) and this was our view from the Champions lounge for the last few hours on the final day - truly amazing place.
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EDIT - found some shots from the party on the official website - http://www.bmwnzopen.com/gallery/galleryParty-on-the-Peak-g23/index.html?__ggback_overrideGet=currentPage&__ggback_noMerge=*&currentPage=2

Also found a pic of Vaughan and his caddy, as well as myself and my caddy Noah (for those that I haven't met I am on the left in the Red shirt.
http://www.bmwnzopen.com/gallery/galleryDay-Two-Action-g17/index.html - and there is another one of me teeing off on page 5 it seems.

[PeteyD]

Love it! Awesome stuff Dangles and thanks for sharing.

[Icestorm959]

awesome! Try to get in again next year!

[Dangals]

Love it! Awesome stuff Dangles and thanks for sharing.

Thanks Petey


awesome! Try to get in again next year!

Mate I am going to do absolutely everything I can to get in again but unless I can somehow come up with 10-15k it is very unlikely... nor is the likelihood that I will be able to increase my game level to get into the field as an amateur in the actual open but that would be an even better experience I would imagine.

[PerryGroves]

Mate I am going to do absolutely everything I can to get in again but unless I can somehow come up with 10-15k it is very unlikely... nor is the likelihood that I will be able to increase my game level to get into the field as an amateur in the actual open but that would be an even better experience I would imagine.

Didn't you have to write some sob story to win the competition (apologies if it was actually true)? Go with the same stuff again, the marketing muppets will never remember.

I am working on a new script, my contention that I had 4 hungry children and a crop in the field didn't resonate.

[Captain Nemo]

This my friend is gold!
Cut the other cowboy out, blow it up and its a wall hanger for sure!

[Dangals]

Didn't you have to write some sob story to win the competition (apologies if it was actually true)? Go with the same stuff again, the marketing muppets will never remember.

I am working on a new script, my contention that I had 4 hungry children and a crop in the field didn't resonate.

Yes I did win via a competition but the way this event has been run I doubt they would forget that I won this year - still it will never hurt to enter again as you never know.

[Dangals]

This my friend is gold!
Cut the other cowboy out, blow it up and its a wall hanger for sure!

Thanks mate - I just found that today and you are right it is fantastic - my name on the bib and everything! It was just a shame we were not allowed to keep them.

[Dangals]

Here are some of the shots I got from Dad's phone

Here is the Hilton where we stayed, it has a pub attached and we would have spent more time in there than our rooms I imagine.

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This is the range at Millbrook - it would be tough to use this range all the time. This was on the Monday prior and being the only one on the range the guy there supervising was bored and came over and would clean my clubs whenever I switched!
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1st tee at Jack's Point
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On the Green on the 5th at Jacks - from this point onwards for the next 4 holes you hug the coast line and have some amazing views.
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Teeing off on 6 at Jack's
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Tee shot on 7 at Jack's - amazing looking hole where you are just hitting out towards the lake
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[Dangals]

more pics

Tee shot on 16th at Jacks - 400m par 4 that is massively downhill, the ball just stays in the air forever, had a 65m pitch into the green, very cool hole
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11th at Millbrook during the Thursday round
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Teeing off on 14 at Millbrook and you can see the 15th fairway coming back on the other side of the hazard.
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Final hole on Friday at The Hills where I had to make a 18 footer for bogey and slotted it in.
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Unfortunately a lot of the shots from the Hills Dad had zoomed in on his phone and so they are a big grainy.

That about wraps this up - for anyone considering having a golf holiday in NZ i cannot recommend it highly enough, Queenstown is a fantastic place to visit and the courses within 20-30 mins are just sublime.

Thanks everyone for your comments whilst I was there posting this info - I really appreciated the positive re-enforcement and I can assure you it helped.

[Peppas]

Great pics Dan, looks amazing.

Thanks for sharing your experience too, and great stuff playing so well, double happiness!

[Dangals]

Great pics Dan, looks amazing.

Thanks for sharing your experience too, and great stuff playing so well, double happiness!

Thanks Peps - it was amazing, The Hills is the best course I have ever played and would happily go back there at the drop of a hat.