Review kindly written by Lee Patchett

The first thing that you notice with Omanu, or that I did anyway, was the height of the trees - they are all pretty short or trimmed down  due to the fact that the Tauranga Airport is just over the fence.  We literally had to stop and wait for planes to go through a couple of times before playing!

Short trees and low flying aircraft aside, the course was challenging.  While at just over 6,000m it wasn't long on the card, it certainly played a lot longer with pretty strong winds and no run at all - I had to drop my ball once after it suckered in the fairway with a 3 iron.  I think everyone I talked to found it the same.  

With the exception of the tenth all of the par 5's were playing really long, and a few of the par 4's were unreachable in 2 for some, making it tough to get a decent round going.

The course was in great shape though, even with all the rain they had clearly been having.  The greens were running true, and quick enough to be a bit scary if you hit it in the wrong place, but not so much so that you couldn't give it a run here and there.

 There was a bit of room off the tee, but as my group found a couple of times, local knowledge is certainly an advantage on a few holes - particularly down the 9th and 10th, where the fairway isn't really where you expect it to be.

It was an enjoyable, if testing day, on a course that was new for most of us that went over.