Gleneagles Way is located at the Links subdivision adjacent to the New Plymouth Golf Club. Like almost all the streets there, it has a golfing connection.
Gleneagles is Scottish town located north of Edinburgh, near the town of Auchterarder. It features three 18-hole golf courses, a nine-hole course (the Wee Course) and a 5-star hotel. The three longer courses are known as the King’s Course, Queen’s Course and the par 73 Jack Nicklaus designed PGA Centenary Course. It was the Nicklaus course that hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup with the European team winning for the third consecutive time.
The club welcomes “golfers of all abilities” to play the courses, but the privilege does come at a price. A round of golf will cost £140 ($NZ271), and should you need the services of a caddie an extra £65 ($NZ125).
The Gleneagles Hotel, located adjacent to the golf courses, opened in 1924 and during World War Two was converted into a military hospital. The hotel’s furniture went into storage, the bridal suite was converted into operating theatres and the golf course bunkers were filled in to avoid detection. It is said that the German Foreign Minister had stayed at the hotel before the war and had decided that it would make a splendid private home after the Germans had won the war.
In 1977 the Gleneagles Agreement was signed at the hotel. At a meeting of Commonwealth leaders it was agreed to discourage contact with sporting organisations or individuals from South Africa. The agreement was precipitated by the 1975 All Black tour of South Africa, followed by a boycott of the Montreal Olympics by a number of African nations.
Prime Minister Robert Muldoon put the agreement to the test in 1981 when the New Zealand Government allowed the Springbok rugby team to tour. The tour caused huge division in New Zealand society, but despite this, the National Government was returned to power in that year’s general election.
This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.
