Pleasant Point Golf Club will host pupils from 19 secondary schools from all over the country as they compete in the New Zealand secondary schools final.
The tournament tees off on Sunday and will feature 62 boys and 14 girls.
Pleasant Point Golf Club president Warren Leslie said this would be the first time in memory the club had hosted a national tournament.
They previously held the South Island Inter-Provincial in 2002.
Mr Leslie said it would be a great opportunity to showcase the club.
‘‘We are making sure we put in the extra mile, the event will be streamed on the internet and also feature live scoring so we want to make the best of the opportunity to not only present our course but Aorangi as a district as well.’’
This year alone Aorangi has been selected to host the South Island Age Groups, the Secondary Schools Final and the National Age Group tournament.
Tournament and course convener Neville Burt said it was great for young golfers in the region.
‘‘It showcases for children what can happen, we’ve seen it with the football, young girls and boys at the highest level and then kids think I can be one of them too.’’
For this tournament each school has a qualifying round within their own provence with one team from each qualifying.
The major centres Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, are allocated two positions.
There are also four wildcard positions comprised of the next best four teams within the qualifying rounds.
Club secretary Di Roddick believed it would be an even competition and it would be hard to pick a winner.
All the players from Kings College and Wakatipu Highschool will be playing with plus handicaps.
Defending champions Macleans College selected a team of three young girls all playing off scratch.
Also competing will be Zach Swanwick who is ranked 6th in the Golf NZ Order of merit and has a world amateur ranking of 245 and Amy Im who recently won the Ruth Middleton Cup and has a world amateur ranking of 385.
Mrs Roddick said the club was really focused on the players coming and giving them a warm reception.
‘‘We are looking forward to giving the players and the public the opportunity to come visit our club and see that we are a friendly country course.’’
Mr Leslie said they spent a lot of time getting things prepared.
‘‘We realise these young people are not only exceptional golfers but humans as well and we want to show them our country style hospitality and make sure it is a good experience.’’
The club runs a junior programme during daylight saving hours and heavily encourage not only young people but anybody to pick up a club and play.
‘‘It’s about promoting sport and promoting outdoor activity, we are golf advocates but it is promoting sport full stop,’’ Mr Leslie said.
The club is expecting both its course records to be broken.
The men’s record, held by Jack Leslie, was set on November 20, 2021 with a gross 66 and the women’s record that has stood since November 23, 1988 by Annie Seed with a gross 71.
There is no cost to spectate and the golfers will tee off on two starting tees at 10.30am on the Sunday and Monday and conclude at about 3pm.
