The country’s governing body for golf is New Zealand Golf (www.nzgolf.org.nz, email nzgolfnzgolf.org.nz, 04 471 0990). Golf is the highest participation sport in New Zealand. It’s the number one sport for men and the number two sport for women, with almost half a million adults hooked. Seven million rounds are played annually on 385 nationwide courses, the highest number of courses per capita in the world. Courses range from remote rural clubs, where sheep grazing the fairways are kept off the greens by electric fences, to top-notch championship courses such as Formosa and Gulf Harbour.

New Zealand has produced some highly successful golfers, most recently Michael Campbell, who won both the US Open and the HSBC World Match Play Championship in 2005. A useful website is www.golfguide.co.nz.