It’s all part of the service at an indoor golf centre in Queenstown’s CBD renamed The Club House by its owner, Louisa ‘Choppy’ Patterson.
Patterson, the longtime owner of high-end helicopter company Over The Top, already has golfing pedigree — she grew up beside Wellington’s Heretaunga course, and her "golf fanatic" dad had a calendar "with all of these badly-depicted golf holes around the world".
It inspired her to create, with The Golf Warehouse’s Eric Faesenkloet, New Zealand’s "most picturesque golf hole" onCecil Peak, overlooking Queenstown and Lake Whakatipu.
It’s accessed only by chopper — then-Prime Minister John Key teed off to launch it 11 years ago.
Patterson last year bought Golf Federation, in Athol St, offgolf pro Ben Guilford, who’d opened it the previous year.
Keeping its four golf simulators, which allow you to ‘play’ 250 courses around the world, she’s turned the front of the premises into "a high-end clubhouse".
"I’ve tried to make it like a gentleman’s club or a gentlewoman’s club, or like the 19th hole at a famous club."
While it’s a good pick-up spot for her helicopter clients, Patterson says the idea’s also just to create a CBD spot for people to relax in while waiting, for example, to head out to the airport.
"It’s like a luxury haven in town.
"We’ve got a big dining table, computer charging stations, it’s just a good place to be able to make your own little living room while you’re waiting to do something else.
"It does give you a fright, though, if you’re sitting there and someone in the number one bay hits a golf ball."
