Blog – Zack Swanwick

2023 Australian Junior Amateur

To be honest due to the cyclone I haven’t had the best preparation before heading to this event. We’re kiwis though. No excuses, suck it up n get on with it. Toughest course I’ve played and it was cold. First round started well then I had the first quadruple bogie of my life and followed it up with a double two holes later. 5 birdies on the back got me back to even par 72 to finish the first round. Second round 67 kept me in the hunt and a “best round of the tournament” 65 in my 3rd round gave me a 3 shot lead.

The final round taught me how important patience is. I battled and fought for everything and the leader board on the 18th tee box showed I was 4 shots clear. After one of my best tee shots of the week I knew I had done it. So proud of myself. Found out afterwards I won a spot to the Australian open. Happy days. Thanks NZ Golf for the opportunity.

Eagle putt in the final round.

Tee shot on final hole.

Final putt to WIN.

2023 NZ Golf National Academy

A nice surprise to be called into the NZ National academy and to get to travel and represent NZ in Australia and Japan.

2023 NZOpen Qualifying

NZ Open Qualifier in Cromwell/Queenstown. Still sporting the borrowed clubs. 63 golfers fighting for 4 spots. Started pretty steady 2 under after the frond 9. Birdies 3 in a row on the back but didn’t make the most of the par fives. A bogey on the 16th dropped me back to 4 under and that’s were I finished. 1 shot off a spot in the playoff. Bugga. Nice to know I can run with the big boys and will definitely be back to grab a spot next year.

2023 Manawatu Super 6’s

Really exciting times. The coach from the University of Florida is flying to little Ole NZ to watch me play……. …then disaster struck… Cyclone Gabrielle wiped out our beloved province. ..my grandparents house under water. Bridges smashed to pieces. No way in or out of Napier….People dead in there houses, silt up to the top of there windows. Never seen anything like it. I called the coach n told him the news…we can still do this, I’m still coming, we’ll make it work.

I borrowed some clubs and jumped on a flight to Palmerston North to play the Manawatu Super 6s. We met the coach the morning of the tournament. I played 3 holes at the Palmerston Nth GC to get used to the new clubs. I didn’t feel many nerves. I really liked JC, the Florida coach. I had 3 good rounds of golf finished at 10 under, 8th place, 2nd place amateur and was really proud of myself. Ended up beating Sam Jones in the first round of matchplay but lost my second match. Bugga. Should have made the semis but after the week I’d had….very proud of myself.

AND….University of Florida offered me a full scholarship….so happy, once on a lifetime opportunity

2023 Hastings Open

First Charles tour event of 2023. Hastings open. Finished in 14th place. Shot 7 under for my 3 rounds. Would have liked to be 3 shots better but really happy with my last 18 holes to shoot 67.

2023 Junior 6’s

Adidas 6’s at Royal Wellington GC. Quick turn around, 1 days rest after winning NI Under 19’s in Taupo and back into it. Definitely lethargic during my first round. Unusually fast and undulating greens didn’t help my cause either. Finished with a 75. ? 2nd round started really well with some nice birdies but fell off at the end. Finished 1 under, leading tournament by 3 shots.

Final round. Off my game the first 9. Had glimpses of great golf throughout the day but too many silly mistakes and ended up in a tie for 2nd place. Really disappointed but learnt how important rest and recovery is after tournaments. Hastings Open is coming up in a couple of weeks. It will be the first Charles tour event of the year. Really looking forward to it.

2023 North Island Under 19’s

023. Refreshed and ready to start again. This year it starts at Centennial GC in Taupo. Started with a solid 69 and got better with each round. Finished 16 under par after 54 holes winning by 14 shots. 69. 66. 65. Very very proud of my effort this week and ran away with a big win in the end.

2022 InterProvincials

Finally finished all my exams…next up NZ interprovincials in Tauranga. Very excited to be up against NZ’s best amateur golfers again. We have a good team this year and we were expecting big things but a couple of tight losses stopped us making the quarter finals. I finished with 3 wins/2 loses and a half. Played some really good golf but a few to many mistakes for my liking. Time for a couple of weeks off. It’s been a long year but I’m very happy with my results for 2022. Bring on 2023

2022 Greenwood Second Weekend

Greenwood cup done and dusted for 2022. Napier were sitting at the top of the table after the first weekend. Finals started really well with a good win over Hawkes Bay GC. Boys ran out of steam in the second round against Hastings and lost 6/4.

Sunday morning saw us up against Maraenui and on a personal note my match up with NZ men’s academy member Mako Thompson. After letting him off the hook a couple of times on the front 9, I played solid golf to take a 3/2 win and even better the team had a good win. With everything to play for unfortunately the team ran out of steam in the last match against Onga Onga. I won my match against former professional Doug Hollaway 7/6, played really well but the team ended up a 1/2 point shy of taking the trophy. Gutted. I ended up with 7/7 wins and took out the trophy for the highest ranked unbeaten player.

Two more exams this week then off to Tauranga for the NZ Men’s Interprovincials. Exciting

2022 Greenwood First Weekend

Always an exciting time and a great team event. Had the easier side of the draw for our first weekend but still things to work on. Team had 3 good wins…bring on the finals in mid-November.