Ngawaro is a beautiful 9–goal farm course set among rolling hills forty minutes from Rotorua in the middle of New Zealand’s North Island. This course is living proof that GolfCross® can co–exist with golf. By positioning yards adjacent to greens, the two games can be played together on fertile and undulating terrain in which all the goals/holes run along valleys set between a series of extravagantly–sloped hills. Mostly treeless except for one glorious corner, Ngawaro has a distinctly untouched feel to it, the challenge being to read and negotiate the various swales, plateaus and hummocks which nature and time have carefully created.
A flock of 250 lambing ewes keep the fairways in excellent condition, with only a little additional mowing needed when spring growth exceeds their grazing capacity. Like a lot of farm courses in New Zealand, each green is protected against stock damage by a low electric wire which runs around its perimeter. With good management, the sheep provide cheap maintenance in return for a profit from the sale of lambs and wool.
Goals and yards are set up to the side of greens and far enough away so there’s little chance of balls landing on them. If they do, a free drop is taken from the edge of the green to ensure they’re not damaged.