A golf club has invested $3 million into updating course facilities, including building what it claims is one of the world’s biggest greens.
Mount Maunganui Golf Club general manager Michael Williams said it was “the most money the club has invested back into itself in 30 years”.
The club opened the practice green, named The Dunes, on Tuesday. At 6000sq m, it’s bigger than a standard hockey pitch and smaller than a rugby field.
It has an 18-hole course within itself and was designed to create additional space for its 1400 members to practice.
Williams told the Bay of Plenty Times it was phase one of the club’s master plan to improve its facilities.
He described the green as “quite an achievement” for a New Zealand club.
“This new golfing green is one of the biggest, and it’s right up there with other big golf greens around America and the UK.”
In his view, it was also “the best practice facility in this immediate area, and arguably in New Zealand”.
The green, which cost just under $250,000, will be joined by a new $2.8m driving range currently under construction.
It was expected to open in two months.
“The club is investing just a little over $3 million into facilities, which for any club that’s a lot of money, and probably the most this club has ever spent at one time.”
He said opening the new green meant 10 to 20 times more golfers would be able to practice at the same time.
“We’re a big golf club and one of the busiest in the country for rounds of golf played with 1400 members.
“This expansion is huge for members and visiting golfers to practice their putting and chipping, and it should see a lot more people down here at the same time,” Williams said.
Phil Tataurangi, considered one of New Zealand’s most accomplished professional golfers, designed the green and was engaged by the club to put the master plan together.
He worked on the green for seven months, designing it, clearing the site, then building the new facility.
“It’s been a bit of a windy road to be fair, we started back in September last year when we started demo-ing everything,” Tataurangi said.
“I think that got everyone’s mouths wide open and panicking because we were tearing up their old putting green.”
He said he assessed the practice facilities as a major area where the club could make improvements.
“The driving range was too small, and the green was too small for the current utilisation of the course, so we set a vision to have a playground where people could come out and use the entire area.
“Golf gets a bit serious sometimes, and this is just intended to have lots of fun.”
The green’s name was inspired by the course being “only a couple of hundred metres” from the beach.
Tataurangi said he wanted to bring those coastal themes to the new facilities.
“I proposed the name to the club three years ago, it stuck and here we are now opening The Dunes.”
Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale opened the green and course superintendent Blair Dibley cut the ceremonial hole.
Junior club champion Nero Souter took the first putt, followed by life members Merle Halligan, Raymond Horsfall and Owen Kendall.
Drysdale said it was “fantastic” to attend the opening and see how the team’s vision for the space had become a reality.
“Assets such as this are great for encouraging people of all ages and stages into the sport and it’s impressive to think this is one of the largest of its kind in the world,” he said.
“I’m sure The Dunes will be well-used and enjoyed by current and future golfers for decades to come.”
Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.