NZ HERALD ITEMS:












Peter Williams: Tempting Peninsula plan offers top-flight course

Sunday May 11, 2008

The Auckland region may soon be blessed with another championship course, close to the Northern Motorway and with a ready-made membership.
The Peninsula Golf Club, which owns its course on freehold land zoned "future urban" at Whangaparaoa, has been approached by housing developers.
The golf club has been offered a brand-new, championship-standard layout on the western side of the new motorway on Wainui Road at Silverdale, plus cash.
Best of all, the. club can play their current course up till the day the new one is ready less than 10 minutes' drive away
For a club with a healthy membership of just over 800 but with only 44ha of land, the offer is too good to be true.
But there is considerable opposition, although not so much from club members. Neighbours are worried about losing their green belt, which sounds like an argument they should be having with the Rodney District Council rather than the golf club.
Peninsula GC, as an incorporated society, may dispose of freehold assets as members see fit as long as the proceeds go to a similar activity. The new course meets that requirement.
This is an unprecedented opportunity in the Auckland region. The two so-called championship courses at Gulf Harbour and Formosa have limitations as they are difficult to access and neither is well designed.
Formosa has terrible drainage and heaven knows what Gulf Harbour's future is under Mark Bryers' ownership.
Here's a chance to get some serious design input from professional players, such as Peninsula's own resident pro Stuart Reese, in conjunction with a proven course architect and around 80ha of land to work with.
The layout, while primarily a club course, should be of a standard to host the New Zealand Open and come complete with practice facilities.
If this comes off it will be a first for New Zealand.
Club officials say a majority of Peninsula's membership is in favour. This is quite a young club. The average age is 51 and more than a third live south of Albany. Relatively easy motorway access and the lure of a high-quality course should mean this will be a sought-after place to be a member.
Golf clubs have to constantly reassess their futures. A hundred years ago, the Auckland Golf Club was playing at One Tree Hill before they found the more spacious site at Middlemore, where they moved in 1910.
The Wellington Golf Club started life at Miramar before going to Heretaunga in the early years of the 20th century. There are countless other examples. If this deal is as good as it sounds then Peninsula should embrace it enthusiastically.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10509393



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Scenic golf links set for housing

Monday Jun 29, 2009

An Orewa golf course with park-like fairways and sea views is set for a 600-house development.

Members of the Peninsula Golf Club have voted to accept a developer's offer of a swap - in return for building a free course in the countryside and giving the club more than $10 million cash.

Formed in 1956, the club's 44ha property overlooks Red Beach. Its lakes, mature trees and flower beds are like a scenic tour over 18 holes.

"There are a lot of mixed emotions - long-time members recall the working bees and now there is the exciting opportunity for a course by a world-class designer," said chairman Patrick Kennelly. "We will continue to run here until May 2013 when the new course is built at Wainui and we move to that."

Mr Kennelly said the deal had other conditions to be fulfilled.

The developer was applying to Rodney District Council to change the zoning of "future urban" to residential.

The proposed course at Wainui has resource consent for a golf course, but that needed to be changed to suit the club's wish to change the clubhouse site.
"We want to put it on top of the hill where there are great views of the hills and sea beyond."

Members had a presentation on the 81ha site from Canada-based course builders and architects Puddicombe Golf. It was set for a secure future as a members' course that did not rely on green fees and was sustainable in terms of maintenance.

The club had 830 members, of which 580 were eligible to vote on the club's offer. The result of the secret ballot was 330 members in favour and 68 against.

This was 83 per cent of the votes cast.

"The process has taken about 15 months and it has been an emotional issue because some members live on the boundary of the course."

Over the years, the former farmland had become surrounded by houses, retirement village complexes and health and medical centres.

"It's pretty tight and restrained and we have an opportunity for enough land for an 18-hole course with wider fairways and safety areas."

A member who opposed the deal, Richard Eames, said members overwhelmingly supported the decision and it had now moved from a club issue to a community issue.

Resource management lawyer John Maassen, who is acting for Peninsula Land Development, said an application for changing the zone to enable residential development would be made by late August.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10581319

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Grey prospects for golf greens
Sunday Jun 26, 2011
  
As player numbers drop and the demand for housing increases, courses may become homes.

The soothing sound of golf putters on greens is set to be replaced by jackhammers and nail guns, as falling club membership coincides with heightened housing demand.
Golf courses around Auckland and the upper North Island have been in discussions with property developers who want to build subdivisions on the fairways.
The developers are attracted by the clear, open spaces in suburbs where housing is already at a premium.
According to New Zealand Golf, New Zealand has the highest number of golf courses per capita in the world.
But over the past five years, membership has dropped by almost 10,000 to 118,000 - and the average age of those remaining has crept up close to 60 years
Last year, the Papakura District Council denied developers Paul Webb and Andrew Tauber's bid to construct a retirement village on a nine-hole golf course. The course's future is now uncertain. In neighbouring Takanini late last year, Fletcher Residential and Ross Reid Contractors offered to buy and subdivide Manukau Golf Club.
Club general manager Stewart Halligan said negotiations were continuing but refused to disclose details.
The Grange in Papatoetoe also has an uncertain future, according to the March newsletter for nearby Aviation Golf Club. There had been talk of the two clubs merging but the newsletter said options for The Grange included shutting down or moving.
At the top of the Coromandel Peninsula, The Dunes Golf Resort in Matarangi has gone into receivership.
"It's no secret that clubs have struggled with memberships throughout the recession," said Auckland Property Investors' Association president David Whitburn.
He said councils liked having parks, which could be a barrier to development. "The council, generally, are the biggest bottle-neck."
The Auckland Council's infrastructure manager, David Clelland, said open spaces attracted people to a city - contributing to the projected need for 300,000 new dwellings in the next 30 years.
Whitburn said some of the city's public and private spaces, perhaps including a few golf courses, would have to be sacrificed at some point.
But the council says it is not contemplating selling any of the courses it owns, which include Chamberlain Park in Pt Chevalier, Takapuna, Waiheke Island and Great Barrier Island.


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500-house development at Red Beach tees off locals

Friday Feb 3, 2012


Tui dip into flax flowers on the boundary of the Hibiscus Hospice. Beyond, pairs of golfers zigzag down the hillside between pohutukawa and other mature trees.
Bench seats in the hospice's remembrance garden look out over the large expanse of green, as do most of the rooms of those inside - rooms in which the occupants will spend their final days.
Soon their picturesque outlook could become the site of little boxes on the hillside. There are plans to turn the 18-hole, 45ha course into a 500-house development.
"If it goes ahead we will lose the privacy and peaceful enjoyment our patients get here," says hospice chief executive Winsome Stretch as she looks out over the Peninsula Golf Course.
In 2009, golf club members voted to sell their land to PLDL, in exchange for cash and a new custom-built course at Wainui, in Silverdale.
The agreement is conditional on a private plan change to rezone the golf course site from "future urban" to "residential medium intensity".
PLDL applied for the change last year and, on December 15, the Auckland Council's regional development and operations committee agreed to accept it for notification, something Ms Stretch says gives the community an opportunity to fight the change fiercely.
"There are a lot of people in the community opposed to it. I think we have to get organised and say so with a loud voice.
"A housing development is not acceptable to us, based on the privacy and peace needed by the people we look after. These are people who are dying and to have a big construction site [nearby] is just not on."
The hospice, which opened in 2008, has six in-patient rooms and offers day groups for outpatients as well as respite care and pain management.
Ms Stretch is concerned that building a large subdivision will cause dust and noise pollution and destroy the hospice's peaceful environment.
She's also worried the site's poor drainage and potential traffic issues have not been considered.
"There is already major congestion on Whangaparaoa Rd and another 500 houses will hugely increase the number of cars on the road."
She says plans to sell the course were not disclosed when the hospice bought the land from the golf club in 2004.
"And that's disappointing. It would have been a factor in our decision to buy if we had known."
But a lawyer on the board of the Peninsula Golf Club Board has written to The Aucklander saying he was involved in the sale of land to the hospice in 2004.

"When we accepted the offer from Hospice we had not been approached to sell the land to any developers," Patrick Kennelly said.
He said Ms Stretch's allegations do "not have any basis in fact at all" and are defamatory of the golf club.
He said aside from any possible implication that the golf club had acted underhandedly he was disappointed as a supporter of the hospice.
"What is probably even more disappointing is the contributions the Club has made to Hospice over the years as well as the personal support from a number of its members," said Mr Kennelly. "My own firm has a donation box used to collect funds for Hospice."
 Housing not needed

Ms Stretch believes, with several thousand new houses planned at the nearby Millwater development, the extra housing is not required.
"The ideal solution would be for the council to buy the land and turn the whole thing into a reserve."
Last year, the Hibiscus Bays Local Board asked the council's governing body to reject the plan change and investigate buying the site or part of it, for a reserve.
Chairwoman Julia Parfitt says the site seems unsuitable for a development of the size proposed.
"We, as a board, have a resolution on the books supporting the council looking at buying it.
"We questioned whether it should actually be processed, as the District Plan has not been operative for the proper time."
Hibiscus and Bays Local Board member John Kirikiri is surprised the council decided to notify the plan change after the board's strong opposition. "I'm dumbfounded that our view was not taken into consideration.
"There's no 'local' in local board because we have no teeth."
He says he is contacted almost daily by people in the community who are concerned about the proposal.
"And 99.9 per cent don't want it there but, because we as a board don't have any regulatory powers or responsibilities, we can only advocate for the community."
He says there is a lot of development occurring in the area, and without the Penlink - a proposed second access road to Whangaparaoa Peninsula - it will place too much stress on the infrastructure.
Frank Butler, who lives on the boundary of the golf course in the Hibiscus Coast Village, says he is just waiting for the notification to appear so he can launch a strong protest.
"I can get 200 objectors just by calling a meeting. The fact is, people who neighbour the golf course paid quite a lot for their houses. This is going to put pressure on roads and schools and the green belt will be gone."
Auckland Council did not respond to requests for information about when the public would be able to have their say on the proposal.

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Under-fire plan for golf-course housing now up to city panel
5:30 AM Tuesday Apr 2, 2013
A controversial plan to turn an Orewa golf course into 520 lots for homes goes before Auckland Council commissioners next week.
In 2009, members of the Peninsula Golf Club voted to accept a developer's offer for the land - in return for building a free course in the Wainui countryside and giving the club $10 million cash.
Formed in 1956, the club has 44ha overlooking Red Beach. Its lakes, mature trees and flowerbeds are like a scenic tour over 18 holes.
Chairman Patrick Kennelly said the club could not afford to improve its present course, which was closed for 15 to 20 days a year because of flooding.
The club hoped for an October start on an 18-hole facility to be developed by Canada-based course builders and architects Puddicome Golf, he said.
The 81ha Wainui site would allow the club to cater more for families, with facilities such as a gym, tennis courts, a nine-hole, par-3 course and a clubrooms suitable for hire to community groups.
However, the deal was conditional on PLDL Ltd getting approval for a medium-intensity residential zoning.
The developer's bid to show how its design can fit in the middle of an established suburb goes to a public hearing by council commissioners next Tuesday.
Some changes have been made in return for key objectors withdrawing and the council consultant's report to the hearing recommends approval.
However, about 600 submissions from residents oppose the development - revealing how much the green open space will be missed and concerns about newcomers' cars adding to the area's traffic congestion.
The applicant's planning consultant, Ian McAlley, said it was a low-impact design.
Bigger lots were on the edge of the site and the smaller ones for terrace houses were in the lower central part next to parks in order to keep sea views for houses on Hibiscus Coast Highway.
Landscaping would include existing trees and streets with wide, planted berms. Reserves would have stormwater-filled ponds with planted fringes for bird habitat.
Mr McAlley said traffic congestion was the most complicated issue because of the large-scale developments in Silverdale since the golf course project began four years ago.
The applicant proposed to develop lots in stages which would be linked to traffic improvement works.
Hibiscus and Bays Local Board chairwoman Julia Parfitt said the board sought an independent view of the plan and as a result made suggestions to improve the environment.
A serious concern was the pressure coming on the roading network and the applicant's reliance on a proposed timetable for works on the roading network.
Mrs Parfitt said that linking consents to certain works was already practised in the district.
It was a requirement for the Millwater subdivision in Silverdale North.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10874816


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Out of the rough - golf's sell-off saves the clubs
Tuesday Apr 22, 2014


Selling entire courses or fringe parcels to developers is seen as a way to repay debt and maintain facilities as the once-popular sport faces a decline in membership with the young looking to different leisure pastimes.


Long-established Auckland golf club and eight-time host of the New Zealand Open championship needs to sell land to generate money.
Papatoetoe's The Grange, established in 1924, needs a new clubhouse, to pay off debt and improve its course. Last year's merger talks with neighbouring Royal Auckland ended by mutual agreement, says Grange general manager Mark Stuart, but he could not reveal why.
Grange chairman Rob Chemaly said developers were being sought to buy a few hectares in return for a much-needed facilities upgrade.
See the Expressions of Interest document for The Grange Golf Club here.

Some other Auckland golf clubs are also in the rough, suffering declining membership and a lack of income which is forcing them to sell property.
The Grange is just one of many across Auckland in play.
Manukau's land has gone to Fletcher Residential for $40 million-plus. A huge new housing estate will be built and its members are getting a new Ardmore course.
The Formosa Golf Resort near Pine Harbour was in the throes of being sold last year for around $45 million, having 16ha of "islands" of land which could be turned into apartment estates for rich Chinese to fly in, stay and play golf. No contract was settled.
Last year, the 600-member Maungakiekie club in Mt Roskill voted down a 3ha $7.5 million sale of its 4th hole. President Tom Duffy said such a move would have been "lazy, because you don't fix the underlying problem".
The club, with a $100 million 48ha prime city site, had only around $600,000 in debt, so developed new marketing and loyalty schemes which netted 60 new members in January and February alone, he said.
Meanwhile, outside Auckland, a billionaire United States financier has joined Maori to develop an international course.
Los Angeles-based Ric Kayne and his wife, Suzanne, have struck a deal with Te Uri o Hau to build the course on part of a 616ha forest estate by Te Arai Beach, 110km north of Auckland.
Mr Stuart said Auckland clubs faced challenges.
"There's too many golf courses in Auckland and the demographics are changing in that there's a lot more casual golfers in the 20 to 40 age bracket because they work during the week, their wives work, they look after the kids in the weekend and there's other entertainment options. They want to play golf but don't want to commit and they move around clubs," he said.
 One property developer described golf as "a snore-fest".
"Now we live in an age of instant thrills from mountain biking, kite surfing, parachuting, motor racing, kayaking ... Who wants to walk around a golf course hitting balls? It's a boring, day-long event."
Stewart Halligan, Manukau's general manager, said Auckland golf clubs were all trawling from the same membership pool.
"There's no real growth in the game. It's shrinking and members are getting older. The 18-hole ladies are now playing only nine holes," Mr Halligan said.
Peter Thornton, media and PR manager for New Zealand Golf, said 480,000 played the game and 120,000 were club members.
"There's declining membership. It's a difficult landscape, probably for a whole lot of reasons such as cost - annual membership is $2000 a year - and there's other options and life is busy so people are finding it hard to find the time for four-and-a-half or five-hours on the weekend."
So New Zealand Golf has launched www.cheeky9.com, to promote the game, "giving anyone the chance to squeeze a cheeky 9 holes in with their mates", and the "welcome to your other backyard' campaign lovegolf. co.nz.
In 2009, members of Peninsula Golf Club in Orewa voted to accept developer PLD's offer for its 45ha in return for building a Puddicombe-designed course and family-oriented club facilities in Wainui, plus $10 million cash.
Last month's update said Pond construction at the new course was completed. Bulk earthworks were almost done in the first phase, with bulk haulage of topsoil remaining. Course shaping was completed on holes one and eight as well as parts of holes seven, nine, 10 and 18.
Mr Stuart said many British clubs were closing and the same changes were affecting the sport in this country.
"The dynamics are interesting because at the top end, there's no problem, with people who want to go around the world and play golf. It's in the middle that we're all fighting for members," he said.
Casual players uncommitted to any one club created financial uncertainty because annual budgets and spending depended on steady annual subscription fees.
"Yet Auckland's population is growing and there's an increase in the Asian population and they love golf," Mr Stuart said.
Residential neighbours are often less than delighted about the prospect of Auckland golf courses becoming huge housing estates and last year, Keywella Drive residents Max and Sandra Byrnes raised concerns about Manukau selling to Fletcher.
That company, headed by Ken Lotu-Iiga, got resource consent for 479 housing lots or sections in seven stages.
Improvements are under way at Waitemata Golf Club, founded in 1905, where new drainage is being installed on reclaimed land between Ngataringa Bay and Narrow Neck. Mr Stuart said many Auckland courses were on peaty, wet, often reclaimed land.
A decade ago, the Grange had around 1400 members but today has only 700, paying $2000 annually.
Yet it has a valuable 46ha site and Mr Stuart said it was like many other city golf clubs: asset rich but cash poor.
Mr Chemaly said the club might sell around 2.5ha, possibly on Grange Rd, but that depended on what developers proposed.
"The funds realised from the sale will be applied to course improvements and the retirement of debt. The club has been going for 90 years, but not always on this location. We have some greens to upgrade and maintenance that needs to be done. We need to grow our business. Membership has continued to decline, as it has for most clubs."
The Grange expressions-of-interest document says prices are needed for a clubhouse upgrade or rebuild, new greenkeepers' facilities, NZPGA professional facilities, golf-practice facilities, roading, services, fencing, gates and security.
Mr Chemaly said the most recent New Zealand Open The Grange had hosted was in 2004.
"The golf scene continues to evolve and pressure is on clubs like ours to ensure that we continue to attract and retain members, and this can only be achieved if we provide a golf experience of the very highest standard," he said.
The club's property is bounded by Grange Rd, Great South Rd, Shirley Rd, Omana Rd and an inlet from the Tamaki Estuary to the west.

Grange sale schedule
Partial Papatoetoe land sale to bring in funds:
March 31: Expressions of interest sought.
June 30: Expressions to be lodged.
July 18: Shortlist of developers selected.
July 31: One party picked.
Source: The Grange Golf Club

Course changes
*Te Arai, 110km north of Auckland. New golf course.
*The Grange Golf Club, Papatoetoe. Selling some land.
*Formosa Golf Resort, Pine Harbour. Was in the throes of being sold last year for around $45 million. No contract was settled.
*Manukau Golf Club, Takanini. Entire course sold to Fletcher Residential. Moving to Ardmore.
*Waitemata Golf Club, Devonport. Grounds upgrade under way.
*Maungakiekie Golf Club, Mt Roskill South. 600-member club voted down a 3ha $7.5 million sale of its 4th hole last year.

*Peninsula Golf Club, Orewa. Course sold, moving to Wainui.

Keen for the course

480,000 New Zealanders play golf 
120,000 are club members



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Wainui on track to open in 2016
Wednesday Dec 17, 2014


Gazing down from the planned clubhouse site at Wainui, you can see the shaping for more than half the fairways and greens due to be filled with golf enthusiasts in 2016.
This will be the new home for those who have been involved with Peninsula since 1956 when members and volunteers carved their course out of a block of land with amazing sea views to Red Beach and beyond.
That 44ha course has been squeezed by urban sprawl, tinkered with by various designers and been a great benefit for those who like pursuing the little white or multi-coloured ball from tee to green.
But that is past tense. Like many courses in New Zealand, it has battled with a host of issues - none more than the weather which causes havoc with the clay-based course and renders it unplayable for days every season.
After the usual wrangling among members and subsequent discussions with the council, developers and financiers, Peninsula voted to take up the offer to shift to a new 81ha course at Wainui, near Silverdale, and pocket $10 million in exchange for PLDL Ltd building about 500 houses on the Peninsula course.
New motorway exits and on-ramps will guide members to the new course at Wainui where double the land offers five tees for players of varying ability, a proposed nine-hole par-three course and plans for several tennis courts and a gym to be linked to the clubhouse complex.
The clay-based chaos and congestion of Peninsula will be "remember when" discussions in the new clubhouse when the course opens about Easter 2016.
When the construction is complete, work will start on the final stages of the development complex with the nine-hole par-three course, driving range and tennis courts.
Moving or amalgamating is a growing trend for clubs in Auckland as they face multiple challenges to their finances, membership and operations. Manukau will shift to a new base at Alfriston and there are efforts to dovetail Middlemore and the Grange.
Fluctuating numbers use the 15 golf courses on the Shore which stretch from the links-style Muriwai in the west to the coastal parkland Gulf Harbour in the east.
Peninsula was battling the crush on facilities, a growing list of repairs and working through the $3.2 million redesign of seven holes when the offer to move to Wainui was submitted.
"In came the Fairy Godmother," Peninsula chairman Patrick Kennelly said.
"It is a worldwide trend apparently in a sense that developers find large tracts of land close to a city centre which they can turn into housing in return for building a golf course.
"The piece of land at Wainui was already consented for a golf course and hamlet when we were approached by the developers and we began a five-year journey to get to where we are now.
"We showed Grant Puddicombe [from the developers] the land, we got an initial design and that was tweaked three or four times."
That shift will take the club about 7km west across the motorway to Wainui, where heavy earthmoving equipment has been on the go all year, shaping the holes from the clay before a network of irrigation systems was laid through the soil, then a 150mm top layer of sand-carpeted fairways.
Those green channels have been seeded with brown top fescue which delivers a very compassionate tread and year-round access for carts. The rough is another fescue grass and the greens are a blend of Arrowtown browntop while there are still discussions about the sand to be used in the 40 bunkers.
A number of greens and tees have already been cut and rolled as they warm to the approaching summer conditions.
Wainui means lots of water and the massive irrigation lake which borders the 8th, 9th and 18th holes is full from this year's rain with the run-off merging into one of the streams which runs through the property.
The second stage of shaping is well under way and construction on the clubhouse is due to begin in the New Year.
Back at Peninsula, work will also begin on the housing projects which will reduce the course to a nine hole challenge with members offered the compensation of tee slots at Gulf Harbour.

About 400 full members will tee off when Wainui begins with a number of other midweek, associate, family and casual categories which will allow use of the gym and tennis courts.


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