Speech
Royal Auckland Golf Club
I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language. Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening (Sign)
I then specifically greet you: Rt Hon John Key, Prime Minister; Hon Chris Finlayson, Attorney-General and Minister of Arts Culture and Heritage and Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations; Nigel Brown and Rex Godso, President and Captain respectively of the Royal Auckland Golf Club and your wives; Your Worship Len Brown Mayor of Auckland and Shan Inglis; Distinguished Guests otherwise and I instance Sir Thomas Gault and Lady Barbara Gault, Peter Thomson, legendary golf figure of this part of the world; Ladies and Gentlemen.
It has been a great pleasure for Susan and I to accept the invitation to attend this dinner which celebrates the grant of the Royal status to the Auckland Golf Club.
Given my role as Governor-General, and representative of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, it seems a fitting opportunity to talk briefly of the game’s royal connections.
At the outset it is important to mention that on Thursday morning I had the privilege of conferring New Zealand’s highest honour on Sir Bob Charles of Oxford in Canterbury, who became a Member of the Order of New Zealand.
The Order of New Zealand has a limit of twenty living Ordinary Members, at any one time, with Sir Bob being the eighteenth current Ordinary Member. Sir Bob is known as one of the most successful left-handed golfers in the world and in 2008 he became the first New Zealander and the first left-hander to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Also near the outset it seems pertinent to say that while I am the owner of a full set of clubs and a stock of balls, I am not one who can say he is any sort of golfer. I am rather another who has seen the truth in Winston Churchill’s sentiment that: “Golf is a game whose aim it is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose” and can vouch the memory of many “over drives” and “dog legs” in support of this view.
The royal and ancient game of golf is traced back in a number of ways to Roman times when a game called paganicus was common or to Holland where a game called colven was popular in the middle ages. It is however to Scotland where the game as we know it originated, golf having apparently been played at St Andrews even before the foundation of the University in 1413.
Known as the “Mother of Golf”, Mary, Queen of Scots was a committed player of the game and was the first woman to play at St Andrew’s Golf Club in 1552 . In fact, she found herself severely rebuked for playing golf, it was said, “disrespectfully” soon after the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley, in 1567.
It was royal influence that helped the spread of the game throughout Scotland and, ultimately, its export further afield. The earliest centres of golf all had associations with royalty or, in the case of St. Andrews, the two other influential pillars of Scottish society - education and the church.
In England, the golf course in Windsor Home Park was laid out on the instruction of King Edward VII in 1901 and in the 1920s, another golf course was established in the grounds of Balmoral Castle. In the 1920s and 1930s the sons of King George V played golf, and it is known that, during his brief reign, King Edward VIII played on the Balmoral course. However, I am told that the only member of the Royal Family who currently plays golf is His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, The Duke of York.
That last fact deserves honourable mention this evening because it was during his most recent visit here to New Zealand, in regard to the ceremonies affecting World War II hero Sergeant Lance Manahi, when Susan and I hosted him, that the initial steps were taken regarding this Club’s preferment for use of the word “Royal” in its name.
Golf reached New Zealand’s shores in the 1860s and was played occasionally and informally. It took some time for the first club to be formed, in Dunedin. On 11 September 1871, in the Otago Daily Times it was reported that: “The links, although perhaps not equal to those at Prestwick or St Andrews, are admirably suited for the game, and we trust before the season has far advanced to heath that a Golf Club has been organised and that golf promises to become a popular recreation.”
It indeed became a popular recreation and I understand it is currently said to be the most popular “participation sport” for men and the second most popular for women. This is evidenced by the existence of almost 400 golf courses in New Zealand – said to be the highest number per capita of population in the world .
The Royal Auckland Golf Club, founded in 1894, is one of New Zealand’s oldest golf clubs and has established a reputation of excellence over its more than 100 years of existence. It has played host to many exhibition matches and has been the place where many international visitors to New Zealand have played.
I was accordingly pleased to recommend to the Queen, on the advice of the Prime Minister, that the Auckland Golf Club be bestowed with the title ‘Royal’. To be granted this status is an important and prestigious accolade restricted only to those organisations of eminence and long standing.
May I now add congratulations on the granting of “Royal” status by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, to Auckland Golf Club.
And on that note of congratulation I will close in New Zealand’s first language Māori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours. No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.