Clarks Beach Golf Club – A Seaside Country Champion

Clarks Beach Golf Club is a lovely country course with interesting holes, good conditions, and sea views of Clarks Beach and the Manukau Harbour. A mid-length course that you’ll need all your shot types for.

Warm Up Facilities

Clarks Beach has a small putting green right by the clubrooms and starters office. When reviewed, greens had just been cored, and the practice green ran quite true to form. There are no chipping practice areas.

Two nets are available for warm-up swings with artificial grass and rubber tees. There is no driving range and no long-distance practice areas.

Course Play and Conditions

Clarks Beach Golf Course is a lovely country course with interesting holes, good conditions, and sea views of Clarks Beach and the Manukau Harbour. A mid-length course that you’ll need all your shot types for.

For this review, I played in the late afternoon of a dry March day.

Accurate tee shots are rewarded as there’s a mix of fairway bunkers and water to avoid. Water hazards are provided both by lakes within the course and the sea, which laps around some holes.

I lost too many balls to the water, with penalties adding up to a shocking 30-over score from the blue tees (playing off 23 index). Being more conservative would have helped, and playing off the white reduces not only the distance but also the risk from those penalty areas.

During late summer, the resilient kikuyu grass and plentiful water supplies keep things much greener than surrounding courses. In winter, it doesn’t become too boggy thanks to plentiful drainage into lakes and the sea.

Greens had just been cored, and proved to be a little bouncy when pitching from a distance, and slow and straight thanks to all the sand. Playing earlier in the year, greens had been quite hard, but fast and slopey. The aprons have a mix of angles and grass density to ensure every approach needs thought.

Some of the water on course is an active water treatment plant, managed by Watercare. Depending on conditions, this can be quite fragrant – which is off-putting on the 10th fairway, and the green for the 11th. One waterway, bordering the 18th is signed as an untreated run-off and not to be touched. It’s not a major issue, but can be whiffy.

Our weekday, afternoon tee time was quite quiet, and we made good time around the course. We walked, but there were plenty of golf carts available for hire. Things can be slow with lots of casual players over the weekends.

Clubrooms, food and drink

The starters’ office has a very small selection of golf gear (balls, tees, gloves) as well as cold drink fridges and plenty of snacks.

The clubrooms themselves are always buzzing with both golfers and locals. There is very good clubroom food available, and a very good bar too. Staff and patrons tend to be friendly and ready for a chat. I had a slice of bacon-and-egg pie and a mug of Clarks Beach’s custom-brewed lager for $7. Yes, for the food and the drink.

That Clarks Beach lager goes down mighty fast and smooth after an enjoyable round of golf.

Find Clarks Beach Golf Club

Clarks Beach Golf Course is easy to find – just back from the beach on Stevenson Road. You’ll likely see a yellow coffee flag fluttering outside.