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by Scott Stevens - Queenstown Media Group

Rich white boomers. Otherwise know as golfers. A bit of a cliché but also not far off the truth. Maybe drop the boomer part. We are not all over 65. And the white part. Except for the ball itself, the game of golf does not discriminate. Players of all colour creed and gender are welcome to feel the frustration of this simple game of stick-hits-ball-in-hole-or-not.

The rich part, maybe a little truer if you count the time spent away from the realities of real life playing a game. For hours at a time, usually more than once a week. A rich person’s luxury? Even if the person playing golf uses borrowed clubs and arrives at the course in a 1982 Toyota Corolla.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, most are struggling with work life balance and when spare time presents itself, household chores. Being able to play the game of golf takes a commitment to prioritise playing a game over work. Nice.

All jokes, jealousy and judgement aside, the economic benefit of golf tourism for our district is phenomenal. Underpinning this is the large investment into our public and private golf courses, and the ongoing commitment of the New Zealand Golf Open to the Whakatipu. Ratepayers and taxpayers have helped over the years, but the bottom line is the owners of this tournament are investing and risking the most. Thanks very much for sticking around, with Millbrook Resort in Arrowtown set to continue hosting this festival of golf until 2032.

You can feel the buzz this week as the tournament once again fills hotel beds, bars and restaurants around Arrowtown and the wider district. Attendance figures of 34,000 and 45,000 bed nights recorded in 2025 with an economic impact of $23 million pumped directly into the Queenstown region. Impressive numbers and unlike other major events, like the Queenstown Marathan, no road closures and traffic management nightmares. I would call that maximum gain with minimum pain for the residents of this fine district. So, who doesn’t like golf tourism now I hear you ask?

It has often been pumped up as the future of Queenstown tourism along with e-bike tourism, but I feel the marketing boards we the commercial ratepayers and business owners directly pay for, have not captured the opportunity as they should have. This is my opinion and observations based on no data whatsoever, but it seems to me more time and money is put into getting mass tourism here on tour buses taking photos or renting cars getting tangled in traffic than bums on bike seats and hands on golf clubs.

Leveraging off the millions of eyeballs across dozens of countries including our biggest tourism markets this weekend is a reminder of what we once considered the best tourism outcome for this District. Low impact high yield, not all white, not all grey haired but all rich in time to enjoy life tourists. See you at the NZ Open. Entry to the public is FREE. How good is that? Enjoy.