It’s golf, but not as we know it
AERIAL golf?
‘‘Yep, it’s a thing,’’ as the Central Otago Flying Club combines pilot expertise and a round of golf, says club captain Nigel Forrester.
The highaltitude activity has pilots drop a golf ball from their plane, aiming for a large cross marked on the ground.
Then when they have landed they ‘‘get out, grab a golf club and get the ball into the hole in as a few a shots as possible’’, club president Gary Wilson said.
‘‘It’s just like normal golf, but your teeoff’s from [an altitude of] 500 feet.’’
Mr Forrester and Mr Wilson said they did not know of any other club playing aerial golf, which arose at the Central Otago club ‘‘as a way of doing something different’’.
‘‘We’ve been doing it at the club for a while,’’ Mr Wilson said. ‘‘It gets people out for a bit of fun.’’
It proved a hit at Saturday’s club flyin at the Alexandra Airport, where about 20 planes came from as far as Rangiora for an afternoon’s flying.
Mr Wilson said things at the Alexandra Airport were ‘‘booming’’, as usage increased and development there continued.
The club was also ‘‘in good heart’’, and club members were looking forward to their next major gathering, an open day at the Alexandra Blossom Festival, next month.