Eltham Golf Club

Eltham Golf Club sits in the heart of South Taranaki, a dairying district where the land rolls gently and Mount Taranaki dominates the skyline on clear days — one of New Zealand's most recognisable volcanic cones, rising almost perfectly symmetrical above the surrounding farmland. Golf in this part of the North Island has a long community tradition, with small-town clubs like Eltham forming the backbone of the regional game and offering the kind of unpretentious, member-driven culture that larger urban courses rarely sustain.

The course itself plays across pastoral terrain typical of the Taranaki interior — well-grassed fairways shaped by the region's famously reliable rainfall, with tree lines and native plantings that have matured over decades to give the layout genuine definition. When the mountain is out, the backdrop makes even an ordinary round feel like something worth remembering.

As a rural members' club, Eltham rewards the visitor who turns up without expectations and leaves pleasantly surprised. Green fees are modest, the welcome is genuine, and the golf is the honest, unhurried variety that still defines the game in provincial New Zealand.