Light relief leavens more serious stuff for Team NZ

By Suzanne McFadden

Russell Coutts calls it one of the most hazardous golf holes in the world. Even a professional like Phil Tataurangi couldn't play it.

You tee off from the bow deck of Black Magic. The green is a chase boat parked 100m away. The hole is a bucket.

There are no fairway shots. The sand can be a problem, if you drift in too close. And if you miss the green, you're in the water.

But the balls aren't lost to the briny depths - they float.

"It's a tough hole," said Team New Zealand skipper Coutts. "The ground is moving under your feet all the time."

Coutts invited top Kiwi golf professional Tataurangi out on the Team New Zealand boats after playing a round with him in a pro-am tournament. The PGA tour player was told he had to bring sailing shoes and his clubs.

But it turned out the course was too rough to get the ball to stay still on the tee.

It's not very often that the Team New Zealand crew get time to play sea golf.

They usually spend eight hours a day testing the black boats on the Hauraki Gulf for next year's America's Cup defence.

But these guys are keen land golfers, and most of them play once a week.

The big rivalry is between Coutts and his tactician, Brad Butterworth - a competition that stretches back to the 1992 America's Cup, when they drove out into the Pacific Ocean off San Diego from the New Zealand challenge's warm-up boat.

Coutts is on a 13 handicap, Butterworth 15.

Back to a sport they are masters at: Team New Zealand are back on track after some testing mishaps this summer.

"Before Christmas we had one or two setbacks," Coutts said. "We made a few changes to the boats and then we had teething problems with them. The weather wasn't too good either."

Then on the day they returned to the water, the rudder on Black Magic II broke loose and the boat almost sank.

"I still think we hit something," said Coutts. "It wasn't a great feeling to go down below and see three feet of water in the hull."

Pictured: Russell Coutts chipping off the Team New Zealand boat. HERALD PICTURE / GLENN JEFFREY