Why you should care about how green Russell Coutts’ golf course is

Russell Coutts' halo was tarnished when he quit Team New Zealand 20 years ago.

Fri, 18 Jun 2021

It’s easy to cast Russell Coutts as the villain in his bid to keep taking water above Arrowtown to keep his private golf course bright green in the harsh Central Otago summers.His halo was tarnished when he quit Team New Zealand 20 years ago after a successful America’s Cup defence to chase the money – and victory – with Italian billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli’s Alinghi team, and later when he ran Larry Ellison’s Oracle Team USA.The idea of a pristine golf course on the Crown Terrace when fields are tinder dry...

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