(File photo) Whangaparāoa golf course, which has since closed. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
Jacob Troake used to carry his younger brother Peter's golf clubs but - before Peter's death from a rare bone cancer in 2017 - promised to carry on the dream of playing all 406 courses in Aotearoa.
With 172 courses crossed off, the challenge is also a way to raise money for Cure Kids and the family is planning to make the 200th course - on 5 April 2024, Peter's birthday - a big fundraising event.
So far, they've raised more than $12,000, but Jacob tells Afternoons' Jesse Mulligan it is also a way of carrying on Peter's memory.
"I sort of unknowingly got addicted to the game of golf - which is nice that I've been able to join a hobby that my brother held in quite high regard - and even having conversations like this ... I'm still able to talk about him, I'm still able to discuss his journey.
"It's been an absolute benefit to learn the game, but then equally you get to see some pretty incredible parts of New Zealand and meet some awesome people along the way."
Peter's diagnosis was unexpected for the family, he says.
"When you're a 21-year-old you don't really expect that to happen to, especially your younger brother ... it took us by surprise, and every day is certainly difficult but you sort of manage to live on and keep going and keep remembering him.
"He was big in a lot of ways, he was 6-foot-5, he had size-16 feet - which is very hard to find golf shoes for ... but also he had a very big personality. As an older brother you typically are meant to be the role model for your younger brother but in many ways he was the role model to me and he taught me a lot in the 18 years that he lived."
Jacob says his golf game has improved - though not as quick as he would like.
"I'm sure [Peter] would be very proud but yeah, it's sort of an interesting journey because I never touched a golf club prior to him passing, so I'm still figuring out which end to hold."
Trying to balance the hobby with work is tricky, he says, and usually involves trying to do two 18-hole courses a day for five or six days at the end of each month.
"We try and straddle a weekend, take around five to six days to hit a location ... and get sort of ideally 10 to 12 courses done, catch a breath for a bit, put the golf clubs down, and then do it again the following month."
He is not tackling the courses in any particular order, other than starting with the big cities to get many courses done at once before moving on to the more remote ones.
While he has enjoyed the big international courses - like Te Arai Links, and Clearwater near Christchurch - some of the smaller ones off the beaten track stick out as his favourites.
"Hororata, a golf club just outside of Christchurch, is a bit of a hidden gem and if anyone is a golfer I highly recommend popping round to that one because they've got some incredible people, incredible members, and an absolutely spectacular course."
Sometimes the list of courses grows as new ones open - but other times it shrinks.
"I have actually turned up to a couple that are listed on the New Zealand Golf website and half an hour drive out there and you turn up and it's just a sheep paddock, unfortunately with an old clubhouse that is run to ruins, which is hard to see, but then again it is a hard job to try and keep them up to date.
"Most of them are run by volunteers anyway, so they do a very very good job to keep a golf course in good condition."
The family has been thinking about where to do the final 406th course - but Jacob says that still feels far away for now.
"We'll sort of see where the wind takes us and see where the journey goes."
