Love Letter To: Queenstown Golf

Well… where do I begin.

This one might get a little deeper than the others, because this place isn’t just another stop on the map for me. This is home. This is where my love for golf had a rebirth. Where I first fell in love with creating content. Where I first met Pete and Mac. Where I somehow convinced Erik Anders Lang to come visit Jack’s Point… and in doing so made me fall in love with this entire style of storytelling.

Without Queenstown, I can say with certainty I wouldn’t be doing this. So let’s dive into the basin I call home.

I’ll forever be one of the biggest advocates for visiting Queenstown. Just ask Mac and Pete why every year they keep finding their way back.

To explain Queenstown properly you have to paint the picture. A small alpine town tucked into the Southern Alps, home to roughly 30,000 people, but welcoming millions of travellers every year. It’s known as the Adventure Capital of the World, and for good reason. In the summer, the place comes alive. The lake is buzzing, mountain bikes flying down the hillsides, people are hiking every ridgeline they can find, and if you’re anything like us… you’re chasing sunsets on the golf course. And the golf here? It’s ridiculous.

Six world class courses already exist in the basin, with more on the way. For a town this size, it almost feels unfair. But if we’re talking golf in Queenstown, there’s really only one place I can start.

Jack’s Point.

Somehow I was lucky enough to call this place my office for most of my 20’s. I worked my way up through the ranks, from cleaning carts as a kid to eventually becoming Head Professional.

Five nights a week we’d head back out there once the golfers had cleared off. The three of us would spend countless hours out there just being complete degenerates on the course. Matches, challenges, sunset loops, the kind of golf that reminds you why you love the game in the first place.

The course itself is something special, John Darby created what I genuinely think is a masterpiece. I could try to dress it up with my own words, but honestly the official description says it best:

“Designed in harmony with the natural environment, the course weaves through native tussock grasslands, dramatic rock outcrops, steep bluffs and swathes of native bush to the edge of Lake Wakatipu.”

Even reading that sentence alone should make you curious enough to book the flights.

I once wrote an article for a magazine called CaddieMag (RIP) where I described Jack’s Point as feeling like you were playing golf through Middle earth. Like you were part of the Fellowship trying to get Frodo to Mordor.

And honestly… it’s not far from the truth. The Remarkables mountain range sitting above the course literally played the role of Mordor in the films. It’s that kind of place.

But Queenstown golf doesn’t stop there.

Millbrook is an absolute treat and a must-stop when visiting. Personally I lean toward the Coronet Course, the same course that hosts the New Zealand Open each year. It’s a pure test of golf, framed by mountains that make you feel like you’ve somehow been transported into a small alpine town in Europe.

And then there’s Queenstown Golf Club, sitting right out on the Kelvin Heights peninsula. One of the most unique golf settings you’ll find anywhere. Lake Wakatipu surrounds the course on nearly every side, and every hole feels like it’s playing out toward another ridiculous view. It’s the kind of place where you stop mid-round just to take it all in.

And when the sun goes down… Queenstown shifts gears.

The golf might bring you here, but the nightlife is what keeps the stories going. Tiny bars tucked down alleyways, late night burgers at Ferg, and the kind of nights that somehow turn into mornings before you realise what’s happened, and yes Pete and I have found every corner of that town.

That’s Queenstown. Adventure all day. Stories all night.

And for me, the place where everything really started.

This story is part of Skratch Golf’s Love Letter series—an ode to the places that make the game unforgettable.

Love Letter To: Rams Hill Golf Club, Borrego Springs

Love Letter To: Riviera Country Club

Love Letter To: The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass

Love Letter To: The Philadelphia Cricket Club

Love Letter To: Bandon Dunes

Love Letter To: Bethpage Black

Love Letter To: Scottsdale National

Love Letter To: Pebble Beach Golf Links

Love Letter To: Royal Melbourne

Love Letter To: Torrey Pines

Love Letter To: Queenstown Golf