That could be about to change, though, courtesy of Niwa’s high resolution weather model known as the New Zealand Convective Scale Model (NZCSM). Traditionally, figures from individual weather stations closest to each course have been used in calculations, but Turner, a keen golfer himself, noted the nearest wind speed recording was not always representative of the course itself, and was sometimes quite distant.
CHRIS SKELTON
Hororata Golf Club suffered significant damage in the May 2021 flooding. Five weeks later, the club has re-opened and the course is playable thanks to fundraising and the hard work of volunteers. The NZCSM forecasts weather on a 1.5 kilometre grid, resulting in a highly detailed forecast that accounts for the interaction of weather systems across New Zealand’s highly varied terrain.