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Going Down Under


Peter Braun

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Last Monday as I headed home from Ireland I did not know how crazy my next week and a half would be. As great as it was to be home for two days to see family I went to the dentist and had two root canals the next day. A great trip home. Then as I waited for my flight at JFK we boarded for 30 minutes before getting off and waiting another 4.5 hours at the airport for them to tell us that a leaking o-ring fix would be brought in from Newark, NJ and then it was taking too long so we got a new plane. Mean while other planes left before ours did that were slated to leave after ours by hours. Bye, bye 5 hour layover. Missed flight to NZ, but United fixed me up in a hotel and changed flights. Finally I get to New Zealand, but my bags are missing. I am tired, on a crazy body time zone not really sure what time that is, and then no clean clothes. My clothes arrived on Wednesday. Monday brought my first day of work and the greens and surrounds are being renovated. Long days and hard work. 

 

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NZ is amazing. The views are incredible and the climate is great. From the first sight of NZ I knew I would love it. The mountains and hills are so stunning that it is easy lose track of time looking at them. The plane ride into Queenstown is one of the best I have ever been on. The plane arrives right between two mountains and over the water. A great entrance to NZ. The Hills Golf Club is the 2nd ranked course in NZ and rightfully so. The course is skillfully laid out and has unique features such as many sculpture like the 100 wolves on the right of 18 behind the clubhouse. An interesting fact about NZ and Australia is that the O-Zone has a massive hole over top of them. The sun's intensity is much stronger than anywhere else so a cool crisp day can still burn a person. Sunscreen is a must every day or risk getting severely sun burnt. Weather reports will state burn times for being outdoors. Kind of frightening, but the guys assured me that with proper care the sun is not a problem.

 

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My first week of work (today is Friday night here) was great. I got a quick introduction to the course before mowing some approaches and collars with a John Deere triplex. Then it was off to the renovation project. The process was to core approaches and collars, graden greens, blow off greens, sand and verti-drain. I started helping out with the harvesting of the debris. Tuesday and Wednesday was more work to the greens. I got to use the Cushman Core Harvester mainly because I had seen it used at Mount Juliet and no one here had ever use or seen on run before. Each day was long, but worth it in the end. Thursday I mowed tees with Sam, an English lad over here like me. That was a great way to see the course and get to know my way around. Today was a rainy morning so I helped clean the new carts that arrived this week. Then it was off to sort out banking and taxes. I am enjoying NZ and can not wait to see what is in store for the summer leading to the NZ Open.  

 

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Welcome to New Zealand. Queenstown is one of the greatest areas in New Zealand. Will you be there for the NZ Open? I've been the last few years and its a great event.

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