Raw talent on Wairau course

Nude golfers will tee off in Marlborough's Wairau Valley this month to raise interest in the naturist cause.

Naturist Kay Hannam and partner Brian Williams have already signed up more than 20 naturists from New Zealand and overseas to play in the Nude Golf International at the Wairau Valley township's nine-hole course on Sunday, February 21.

"We are not just stuffy old types who like to lie around naked in deckchairs,"Hannam, 63, said. "We do like to be active.

"I think it would be the most exciting thing I could do if I was a keen golfer, to play a round of golf in the nude.

"If the weather is fine, [participants] will be nude.

"We'll have the course to ourselves."

Hannam and Williams own the Wairau Valley's Wai-natur Naturist Park, which they established three years ago.

They previously ran a similar business in Tekapo.

However, they find the warm Marlborough weather more conducive to the naturist lifestyle.

"We do a lot of recreation in the nude," Hannam said.

"We go tramping in the nude, we swim in the nude.

"I get out of bed in the nude, and if it's a very nice day I just don't bother putting anything on."

Naked golfers lining up at Wairau Valley's first tee will also have full use of the course restaurant and bar facilities.

"All they are going to need to worry about is keeping their hat on and their shoes, lining up the shot, I guess, and just concentrating on the game," Hannam said.

- © Fairfax NZ News