Our Story

Southern Links Golf started, fittingly, at a golf tournament. Around 16 years ago, our paths crossed at an event in Queenstown that John was helping to organise. We hit it off straight away—two people who love the game as much for the people and the places as for the golf itself.

Back home in the North Island, we lived roughly two hours apart—Nathan in Pukekohe, John in the Bay of Plenty—but the friendship stuck. Whenever our calendars lined up, we’d meet for a round or enter a tournament together, and the conversation always found its way back to the same thing: how much this country has to offer a travelling golfer.

We come at golf from two different directions. John has spent more than 25 years on the inside of the game, running golf operations at Millbrook Resort in Queenstown and serving as Director of Golf at Tauranga Golf Club. He knows what makes a golf experience run smoothly, from the first tee time to the last putt. Nathan comes at it as a player and a traveller: 22 countries and counting, a start in the New Zealand Open as an amateur, and a career in advertising spent understanding what makes people tick.

What we share is a passion for golf and people, and a love of New Zealand and everything it has to offer. With world-class courses alongside plenty of hidden gems, New Zealand is far more than just a golfing destination. From spectacular scenery and world-renowned food and wine to almost as many action and adventure opportunities as we have sheep, there is something here for every traveller.

We’d both long wanted to show visitors the very best of New Zealand—on and off the course. Southern Links Golf is the result: tours planned by two mates who have spent a lifetime playing, running and loving golf in this country, and who can’t wait to share it with you.