Auckland
Council eyes six golf courses for possible housing
Wed 12/09/2018
Auckland Council is eyeing up six
public golf courses for housing under a new investment plan for the city's 13
publicly owned fairways, greens and bunkers.
The council has identified Remuera, Chamberlain Park, Clarks Beach, Omaha, Takapuna and Waitemata golf courses as potential sites for housing, according to a consultant's report being presented to councillors today.
The council has identified Remuera, Chamberlain Park, Clarks Beach, Omaha, Takapuna and Waitemata golf courses as potential sites for housing, according to a consultant's report being presented to councillors today.
Mayor Phil Goff and councillors have
been in a workshop behind closed doors this morning working on a highly
sensitive Golf Facilities Investment Plan.
"If you
fast-forward 20 years, it is clear we will need more golf facilities than what
we need now"
A selldown of the city's public golf
courses to prop up the cash-hungry council has been swirling about since the
2016 local body elections when Labour's Goff said the Remuera Golf course could
be sold to use for thousands of homes.
"If you are looking at assets which return almost nothing to the ratepayer, this is one," Mr Goff said on the hustings.
"If you are looking at assets which return almost nothing to the ratepayer, this is one," Mr Goff said on the hustings.
Auckland Council owns 10 golf courses
valued at $2.3 billion and runs three Crown-owned courses: Muriwai, Pupuke and
Waiuku.
Half of the leases on the public courses
are due to expire between 2021 and 2026.
Other courses have leases running
until 2094. Remuera golf course, with a long-term lease, is the most valuable
at $734m.
To help develop the Golf Facilities
Investment Plan, the council has commissioned a cost-benefit analysis model
from consultants Martin Jenkins.
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The model takes a broader approach to
council's investment, looking at things such as benefits to physical health,
golfers and the environment, to assess the status quo against a mix of
open-space uses or alternatives, like housing.
The report from consultants MartinJenkins
does not make any recommendations on specific courses or uses. A social
cost-benefit analysis for housing was outside the scope of its work.
The consultants do, however, back up
Goff's comments in 2016 that golf courses return virtually nothing to the
ratepayer.
They looked at Clarks Beach golf
course in Franklin and put the benefits at $925,103 against costs of $8m, most
of which was keeping the land valued at $7.4m.
The
council's senior policy manager for parks and recreation, Paul Marriott-Lloyd,
said 90,000 Aucklanders played golf at least once a year, including the highest
participation of Maori and Pacific Island players.
He said the plan was about investing
in golf for the city and providing a range of facilities from elementary golf
courses through to intermediate and high-performance courses like Remuera and
Muriwai.
There was potential, he said, to mix
golf with other sports and open space on golf land.
Plans have started to
reconfigure Chamberlain Park from 18 to nine holes and build a driving range
and two artificial sports fields.
Marriott-Lloyd said the council
needed to reassess where its investments are for the future and deliver value
for money for ratepayers.
The possible sale of land for housing
would be made as and when leases come to an end, he said.
The report discusses the possibility
of "improving leases" to allow for different uses on golf courses and
potentially buying out leases before the expiry date.
New Zealand Golf chief executive Dean
Murphy said the body was working with the council on developing the growth of
new and enhanced facilities for golf into the future.
He said golf participation and
membership is growing in Auckland against the trend in many international big
cities.
"The challenge for us is as the
city grows we will fast get to a point where we will not have enough golf
facilities to match demand. If you fast-forward 20 years, it is clear we will
need more golf facilities than what we need now," Murphy said.
Remuera Golf Club general manager
Chris Davies said he had not seen the MartinJenkins report and was unable to
comment.
He said the club's lease expired in
2070 with a 21-year right of renewal.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12123258
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THE IRREFUTABLE TRUTH OF HAYDEN'S ARGUMENT DAWNS ON A GOLFER. PHOTO: GETTY
Why Auckland needs to accept the objective truth, and ban all golf
Auckland’s golf courses are huge tracts of heavily subsidised land lying vacant in the middle of a housing crisis. We need to seize them all back, argues Hayden Donnell.
Some of the proposals to fix Auckland’s housing crisis are debatable. Jailing all Boomers. Seizing Howick under the Public Works Act. Permanently exiling the land banking “secret millionaire” Garry Robertson. There are good arguments on both sides. But one solution is simple and indisputably good. It has an unassailable business case. We need to enact it now.
We need to ban golf in Auckland.
On Tuesday the High Court ruled that Auckland Council and the Albert-Eden local board can divide Chamberlain Park golf course in two, and turn part of its land into a public park. In his decision, Justice Simon Moore said “there was no requirement for the Albert-Eden Local Board to accept the views and preferences or even reach a compromise with those who sought the maintenance of the status quo”.
It was a legal reminder that Auckland Council doesn’t have to negotiate with the crowd of arm-crossing animate frowns who spring up after every semi-encouraging change, arguing it should be illegal for good things to happen. It can just enact objectively right proposals like instantly purging Auckland of as much golf as possible.
Some people say golf is an oppressively boring sport populated mainly by men who look like I will in 30 years time.
But that’s an emotional argument. I want to deal in facts. Golf is an arguably enjoyable sport that’s currently taking up huge tracts of central Auckland land in the middle of a housing crisis.
There are 39 golf courses, 14 of them publicly owned. Many Auckland Council-owned golf courses – including Remuera and Waitemata – are paying $1 a year in rent, despite charging annual fees in excess of $3000 and $1300 respectively.
Waitemata pays $176 a year in rates. Remuera pays $35,000. Both are taking up tens of millions of dollars of prime housing land in central suburbs near major transport links.
We need to execute this golf ban because it’s wrong for organisations providing virtually no return to ratepayers to hog invaluable potential houses in a time where many people have no houses.
According to Sports NZ, golf is declining. Participation dropped 27% between 2007 and 2014.
But even if the sport was thriving, there wouldn’t be enough space for it in Auckland. The most major KiwiBuild development announced so far – a 4000-home complex in Mt Albert – is 30 hectares.
Remuera Golf Club alone is 60 hectares. Council could earmark it for 8000 affordable houses and still have 13 more golf courses to aggressively subsidise for no good reason.
It shouldn’t do that. It should ban playing golf in Auckland, which is the modern equivalent of Emperor Nero playing golf while Rome burns.
If I had a hobby that required a lot of, say, marbles, and there ended up being a huge marble shortage, and children were sleeping in black mould-filled garages and getting bronchiectasis because there weren’t enough marbles, I would understand if some of my marbles were taken away and turned into housing.
This is the perfect analogy for golf in a central Auckland suburb which – without wanting to be inflammatory – should be made into a prosecutable offence under the Crimes Act 1961.
I talked to NZ Golf’s Senior Relationship Manager Carl Fenton about the possibility of evicting golf clubs from their land in Auckland. He said taking golf courses away would mean less green space, and Aucklanders “love their green space”.
However, it is my experience that people prefer green space where they don’t have a chance of being smashed in the head by an Epsom retiree’s mistimed drive.
Takapuna-Devonport local board chairman George Wood also disliked my proposal. He said his constituents would object to him immediately banning golf at his local Waitemata Golf Club. “Look at it. It’s pristine here,” he said. “Why would you want to change anything?”
I talked to Shamubeel Eaqub – an economist who deals in facts. Golf is “bullshit”, he said. “It’s a subsidy for the rich.” He wanted to see golf flung out to the outskirts of Auckland.
Eaqub is on the right track, but he doesn’t go far enough. They say there’s nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. There are also few things more powerful than a resolution by the local government of a medium-sized city to immediately ban golf. That is the resolution Auckland Council should make.
Having said that, in the spirit of democracy – and in spite Justice Moore legally ruling that I do not have to negotiate – I’m willing to offer a compromise.
I realise banning golf is quite an extreme proposition to some people. So maybe Auckland Council doesn’t have to ban golf entirely. But we are in the middle of a long, dire, and intractable housing crisis, and golf courses are taking up massive amounts of land that could potentially become affordable housing.
So it should do something overwhelmingly obvious and unambiguously good, and shut down the 14 golf courses it owns before urgently turning them into a mix of dense housing and parkland. It’s really the least it could do. That’s my final offer.
Auckland Council inherited several courses from former councils in the Super City merger Mr Marriott-Lloyd said.
"That doesn't necessarily mean we should keep them but one of the defining characteristics of making Auckland the most liveable city is the parks and open space."
"We're looking at what the needs are to service the golfers in Auckland and we recognise it is a sport with an economic development potential."
"We do get visitors coming to New Zealand explicitly to play on our courses and in Auckland we have a number which are attractive."
Asked about selling golf courses for housing, Mr Marriott-Lloyd said:
"We are short of land for a whole range of different purposes and part of the amenity of Auckland is parks and open space."
Property Council chief executive Connal Townsend said he was well aware of discussions about selling some council golf land.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11497527
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Sell all Auckland golf courses for housing - top economist
10:50 AM Friday Aug 7, 2015
New Zealand's most outspoken economist has renewed his call for Auckland Council to sell its golf courses for housing, saying the "rich" are getting a massive subsidy.
READ MORE>>> http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11493479
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City gem's significance demands it be left alone
Saturday May 23, 2015
Local board’s carve-up plan ignores the important role Chamberlain Park Golf Course plays in Auckland.
In the eyes of the Albert-Eden Local Board, the Chamberlain Park Golf Course is an unacceptable luxury because of the shortage of open sport and leisure space in its bailiwick.
It, therefore, wants to carve off a substantial part of the course for the likes of sports fields, a playground and a formal garden.
But the local board is disregarding the fact that Chamberlain Park plays a role that has an importance far beyond its boundaries.
The public golf course's significant place in Auckland's wider sporting framework demands that it be left untouched.
Chamberlain Park is the only 18-hole public course in central Auckland. As such, it offers a vital access point for those wanting to play the game.
This, allied with its affordability, means it is frequented by golfers of all different stripes and skill levels.
For the best part of a century, it has fulfilled its role admirably.
It is understandable enough that this 32ha of council-owned and managed greenery should be coveted by those wishing to provide for a wide array of leisure activities for a growing population.
But the local board needs to understand the place that the course occupies in the hearts of generations of golfers who have relished its easy accessibility from downtown Auckland, its cheap green fees, and its absence of stuffiness.
It needs to recognise also that what it provides is irreplaceable.
And that if a carve-up goes ahead and the course is reduced to, say, six or nine holes, a city gem will be lost forever.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11453388
Auckland Council is reviewing its ownership of 13 golf courses worth more than $40 million, as pressure builds to find space for thousands of new homes in the city.
Developers say the land could be used for up to 8000 houses and apartments if the entire 200ha-plus area was made available, easing the city's chronic shortfall of about 30,000 homes.
Officials say the review, which includes popular courses such as Remuera, Takapuna and Pupuke in Campbells Bay, is not specifically aimed at freeing up land for housing - it could also be used for parks and other recreation.
However, the exercise comes as the council is urgently looking for new sources of revenue and space to build houses within existing city limits.
Several golf courses, such as Waiheke and Waitemata in Devonport, occupy real estate worth millions but pay only peppercorn rents as little as $1 a year.
The council's parks and recreation policy team leader, Paul Marriott-Lloyd, said use of golf courses was expected to peak by 2030.
"We have seen some golf courses close or merge, so we have to be careful in terms of balancing the supply and demand. We're anticipating an increase or sustained demand for the provision of golf across Auckland at least until 2030, then that demand could subside."
Mr Marriott-Lloyd said Auckland Council had inherited several courses from former councils in the Super City merger.
"That doesn't necessarily mean we should keep them but one of the defining characteristics of making Auckland the most liveable city is the parks and open space.
"We're looking at what the needs are to service the golfers in Auckland and we recognise it is a sport with an economic development potential."
"We do get visitors coming to New Zealand explicitly to play on our courses and in Auckland we have a number which are attractive."
Asked about selling golf courses for housing, Mr Marriott-Lloyd said:
"We are short of land for a whole range of different purposes and part of the amenity of Auckland is parks and open space."
Property Council chief executive Connal Townsend said he was well aware of discussions about selling some council golf land.
"In terms of the idea of freeing up council land, Property Council has been briefed about possible sites. There are some golf courses which would be ideally located for housing development. Property Council supports that, as we do want to achieve greater density within Auckland limitations. Some parks and reserves are little used and others are well used, so it's good to take a look at all this."
This week, Sydney's Botany Bay City Council announced plans to turn a golf course into 65ha of parkland, prompting some planners to suggest similar moves to solve that city's housing crisis.
Controversial independent economist Shamubeel Eaqub this month called on the Super City to look at turning its vast golfing estates over to housing.
Figures obtained by the Weekend Herald show many golf courses enjoy historic sweetheart deals: the Waitemata Golf Club and the Waiheke Golf Club each pay only $1 a year for their privileged positions, surrounded by hundreds of 800sq m private sections paying $4000 a year in rates.
Those two clubs alone occupy 42.7ha, while Omaha, near the holiday home of golfing Prime Minister John Key, returns $5 a year to ratepayers.
Hobsonville Land Company chief executive Chris Aiken estimated 5000 to 6000 houses could be built on 200ha but more-intensive use could see up to 8000 residences.
He called for a close examination of all under-utilised Auckland land, not just that used for sports or recreation.
New Zealand Golf chief executive Dean Murphy said 20,000 people in the wider Auckland area were golf club members "but the number of people who play golf casually is three times that number, so there are 60,000 to 80,000 people in the wider Auckland region who play golf regularly."
Mr Murphy said population projections had identified that more land was needed for golf, not less.
"We will actually be under-golfed if we want to be the world's most liveable city and we will come under more pressure."
Change is already afoot at Chamberlain Park Golf Club, where the Albert-Eden Local Board has developed a controversial scheme to cut the 18-hole course to nine holes to create sports fields, restore a stream and put in public walkways.
Fletcher Residential got approval last year for 479 housing lots on the Manukau golf course. As well, Metlifecare will build a $175 million retirement village on 5.5ha of the golf course's land. The Manukau Golf Club will shift to Ardmore.
Auckland residential developer Mark Todd, of Ockham Residential, which builds intensive schemes, expressed horror at the prospect of golf club sales.
"How many bowling clubs, tennis clubs and other sporting clubs have shut in the past 15 years? It's f***ing small-minded and short-sighted to sell golf clubs."
"I can't believe any significant property player would maintain that we have to cull golf clubs. Golf clubs are nice green spaces. Be a bit more creative about housing policy!"
"Many more Aucklanders can afford annual $1600 golf fees than the $800,000 to $1.1 million townhouses these courses are carved up into,"
Mr Todd said.
"There is no elitist strand to the argument. Nor is there a public-good argument."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11497527
Tap beneath the surface of an issue and all sorts of questions emerge.
So it is with the Auckland Council's review of its ownership of 13 golf courses, worth $40 million.
At the moment, the land is locked away from development for housing or recreational use by non-golfers.
The review needs to establish whether that is sustainable and to explain why some courses deliver tiny financial returns for a council in need of new sources of revenue.
The large number of courses in council hands is a legacy of Auckland's local-body arrangements before the Super City.
Many boroughs essentially gifted land to golf clubs in recognition of the benefits of green open spaces and the game itself.
Therefore, several courses occupy real estate worth millions but pay peppercorn rents of as little as $1 a year.
The pluses they provide for the environment and the benefit derived from playing golf have not changed.
What has is the pressure exerted by other potential uses for the land.
This should, as far as possible, be resisted.
The council believes there will be an increased or sustained demand for golf across Auckland at least until 2030. Then it could subside.
That forecast could easily prove astray.
Golf is notably popular among Asian immigrants, and is gaining a head of steam thanks to the exploits of Lydia Ko.
It is easy to see it becoming far more popular if this country continues to produce great players.
Similarly, the presence of so many attractive courses close to Auckland will surely prove an increasing drawcard for overseas tourists.
And why single out golf? What about the playing venues of other sporting codes - tennis, for example?
That is not to say all aspects are sustainable. Clubs should be paying something closer to market rates for the land they occupy.
If they cannot afford this, they are probably not viable.
One option has been taken by the Manukau Golf Club. It has sold land for a housing and retirement village, and continued its activities on cheaper land elsewhere.
Alternatively, clubs could go some way to justifying low rents by providing public access to their courses for recreation, if they don't already.
For more than a decade, Scots have been able to ramble across courses as long as they stay on paths, do not interfere with play, and do not venture on to greens. By and large, it has worked.
The potential obstacle is that the right to roam through open country is more ingrained in Britain than here. Some of our golfers may have to undergo an attitude change.
But that would be preferable to their course being closed or, as as happened at Chamberlain Park, being reduced to nine holes because the Albert-Eden Local Board wants to create sports fields, restore a stream, and put in public walkways.
An 18-hole course, says the board, is an unacceptable luxury because of the shortage of open space in its area.
Be that as it may, it would be extremely shortsighted to condemn many of the city's golf courses to grey housing or apartment blocks.
Golf courses should not be subsidised to a ridiculous degree, but nor should the benefits they provide be underestimated.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11498663
It, therefore, wants to carve off a substantial part of the course for the likes of sports fields, a playground and a formal garden.
But the local board is disregarding the fact that Chamberlain Park plays a role that has an importance far beyond its boundaries.
The public golf course's significant place in Auckland's wider sporting framework demands that it be left untouched.
Chamberlain Park is the only 18-hole public course in central Auckland. As such, it offers a vital access point for those wanting to play the game.
This, allied with its affordability, means it is frequented by golfers of all different stripes and skill levels.
For the best part of a century, it has fulfilled its role admirably.
It is understandable enough that this 32ha of council-owned and managed greenery should be coveted by those wishing to provide for a wide array of leisure activities for a growing population.
But the local board needs to understand the place that the course occupies in the hearts of generations of golfers who have relished its easy accessibility from downtown Auckland, its cheap green fees, and its absence of stuffiness.
It needs to recognise also that what it provides is irreplaceable.
And that if a carve-up goes ahead and the course is reduced to, say, six or nine holes, a city gem will be lost forever.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11453388
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The grass may not be greener for these golf courses
Saturday Aug 15, 2015
With the Super City needing land for 30,000 new homes, pressure is growing to use publicly owned golf links such as Waitemata (below), which pays just $1 a year in rent.
Auckland Council is reviewing its ownership of 13 golf courses worth more than $40 million, as pressure builds to find space for thousands of new homes in the city.
Developers say the land could be used for up to 8000 houses and apartments if the entire 200ha-plus area was made available, easing the city's chronic shortfall of about 30,000 homes.
Officials say the review, which includes popular courses such as Remuera, Takapuna and Pupuke in Campbells Bay, is not specifically aimed at freeing up land for housing - it could also be used for parks and other recreation.
However, the exercise comes as the council is urgently looking for new sources of revenue and space to build houses within existing city limits.
Several golf courses, such as Waiheke and Waitemata in Devonport, occupy real estate worth millions but pay only peppercorn rents as little as $1 a year.
The council's parks and recreation policy team leader, Paul Marriott-Lloyd, said use of golf courses was expected to peak by 2030.
"We have seen some golf courses close or merge, so we have to be careful in terms of balancing the supply and demand. We're anticipating an increase or sustained demand for the provision of golf across Auckland at least until 2030, then that demand could subside."
Mr Marriott-Lloyd said Auckland Council had inherited several courses from former councils in the Super City merger.
"That doesn't necessarily mean we should keep them but one of the defining characteristics of making Auckland the most liveable city is the parks and open space.
"We're looking at what the needs are to service the golfers in Auckland and we recognise it is a sport with an economic development potential."
"We do get visitors coming to New Zealand explicitly to play on our courses and in Auckland we have a number which are attractive."
Asked about selling golf courses for housing, Mr Marriott-Lloyd said:
"We are short of land for a whole range of different purposes and part of the amenity of Auckland is parks and open space."
Property Council chief executive Connal Townsend said he was well aware of discussions about selling some council golf land.
"In terms of the idea of freeing up council land, Property Council has been briefed about possible sites. There are some golf courses which would be ideally located for housing development. Property Council supports that, as we do want to achieve greater density within Auckland limitations. Some parks and reserves are little used and others are well used, so it's good to take a look at all this."
This week, Sydney's Botany Bay City Council announced plans to turn a golf course into 65ha of parkland, prompting some planners to suggest similar moves to solve that city's housing crisis.
Controversial independent economist Shamubeel Eaqub this month called on the Super City to look at turning its vast golfing estates over to housing.
Figures obtained by the Weekend Herald show many golf courses enjoy historic sweetheart deals: the Waitemata Golf Club and the Waiheke Golf Club each pay only $1 a year for their privileged positions, surrounded by hundreds of 800sq m private sections paying $4000 a year in rates.
Those two clubs alone occupy 42.7ha, while Omaha, near the holiday home of golfing Prime Minister John Key, returns $5 a year to ratepayers.
Hobsonville Land Company chief executive Chris Aiken estimated 5000 to 6000 houses could be built on 200ha but more-intensive use could see up to 8000 residences.
He called for a close examination of all under-utilised Auckland land, not just that used for sports or recreation.
New Zealand Golf chief executive Dean Murphy said 20,000 people in the wider Auckland area were golf club members "but the number of people who play golf casually is three times that number, so there are 60,000 to 80,000 people in the wider Auckland region who play golf regularly."
Mr Murphy said population projections had identified that more land was needed for golf, not less.
"We will actually be under-golfed if we want to be the world's most liveable city and we will come under more pressure."
Change is already afoot at Chamberlain Park Golf Club, where the Albert-Eden Local Board has developed a controversial scheme to cut the 18-hole course to nine holes to create sports fields, restore a stream and put in public walkways.
Fletcher Residential got approval last year for 479 housing lots on the Manukau golf course. As well, Metlifecare will build a $175 million retirement village on 5.5ha of the golf course's land. The Manukau Golf Club will shift to Ardmore.
Auckland residential developer Mark Todd, of Ockham Residential, which builds intensive schemes, expressed horror at the prospect of golf club sales.
"How many bowling clubs, tennis clubs and other sporting clubs have shut in the past 15 years? It's f***ing small-minded and short-sighted to sell golf clubs."
"I can't believe any significant property player would maintain that we have to cull golf clubs. Golf clubs are nice green spaces. Be a bit more creative about housing policy!"
"Many more Aucklanders can afford annual $1600 golf fees than the $800,000 to $1.1 million townhouses these courses are carved up into,"
Mr Todd said.
"There is no elitist strand to the argument. Nor is there a public-good argument."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11497527
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Editorial: Moves to quit golf courses not up to par
Tuesday Aug 18, 2015
So it is with the Auckland Council's review of its ownership of 13 golf courses, worth $40 million.
At the moment, the land is locked away from development for housing or recreational use by non-golfers.
The review needs to establish whether that is sustainable and to explain why some courses deliver tiny financial returns for a council in need of new sources of revenue.
The large number of courses in council hands is a legacy of Auckland's local-body arrangements before the Super City.
Many boroughs essentially gifted land to golf clubs in recognition of the benefits of green open spaces and the game itself.
Therefore, several courses occupy real estate worth millions but pay peppercorn rents of as little as $1 a year.
The pluses they provide for the environment and the benefit derived from playing golf have not changed.
What has is the pressure exerted by other potential uses for the land.
This should, as far as possible, be resisted.
The council believes there will be an increased or sustained demand for golf across Auckland at least until 2030. Then it could subside.
That forecast could easily prove astray.
Golf is notably popular among Asian immigrants, and is gaining a head of steam thanks to the exploits of Lydia Ko.
It is easy to see it becoming far more popular if this country continues to produce great players.
Similarly, the presence of so many attractive courses close to Auckland will surely prove an increasing drawcard for overseas tourists.
And why single out golf? What about the playing venues of other sporting codes - tennis, for example?
That is not to say all aspects are sustainable. Clubs should be paying something closer to market rates for the land they occupy.
If they cannot afford this, they are probably not viable.
One option has been taken by the Manukau Golf Club. It has sold land for a housing and retirement village, and continued its activities on cheaper land elsewhere.
Alternatively, clubs could go some way to justifying low rents by providing public access to their courses for recreation, if they don't already.
For more than a decade, Scots have been able to ramble across courses as long as they stay on paths, do not interfere with play, and do not venture on to greens. By and large, it has worked.
The potential obstacle is that the right to roam through open country is more ingrained in Britain than here. Some of our golfers may have to undergo an attitude change.
But that would be preferable to their course being closed or, as as happened at Chamberlain Park, being reduced to nine holes because the Albert-Eden Local Board wants to create sports fields, restore a stream, and put in public walkways.
An 18-hole course, says the board, is an unacceptable luxury because of the shortage of open space in its area.
Be that as it may, it would be extremely shortsighted to condemn many of the city's golf courses to grey housing or apartment blocks.
Golf courses should not be subsidised to a ridiculous degree, but nor should the benefits they provide be underestimated.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11498663
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