Tauranga Mini Golf course to stay at Memorial Park, community legacy to continue

A mini-golf course facing demolition will stay in Memorial Park after a desperate campaign by its owner and supporters for its survival.

Tauranga Mini Golf and Jeeps is located at Memorial Park, where Tauranga City Council plans to redevelop the park’s building and pools.

In June, the Bay of Plenty Times revealed serious seismic issues meant the neighbouring Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre was classified as a “high-risk” building needing significant remedial work.

The council’s plans for the area involved overhauling the buildings and space in the park’s southwestern corner, including where the mini-golf course was located.

Tauranga Mini Golf owner Mike Head said he was told his lease, due to expire in November, would not be renewed. He said advice from the council suggested he round up community support to help plead his case for remaining at the park, albeit in a different location.

Last month, Head was told the golf course would stay at the park.

“I’m rapt I have the opportunity to continue as caretaker of this mini-golf course for the community,” he said.

Head had already accepted the golf course would likely have to move, which he did not oppose, but he had hoped to remain at Memorial Park to help retain its legacy.

The mini-golf course was built in 1983 by Tauranga Rotary Club members for the community and was originally operated to raise funds for charity. It changed hands in 2008 after the original lease expired.

Faced with the prospect of losing it, Head turned to the community and asked for support via an online poll seeking submissions from people on whether the golf course should stay at Memorial Park. From 6000 responses, only three were against the golf course staying at the park, he said.

The results were forwarded to the council, and he said he met with city commissioners.

Tauranga Mini Golf at Memorial Park. Photo / Alex Cairns

“I’m really, really happy with the way the council has operated with me on this whole thing — notwithstanding the guys at the council years ago, but the commission were like, ‘There’s no way we are not having mini-golf’.

“And also, the public who were so behind this.

“It’s very encouraging.”

Head said the response from his supporters after he updated them included messages such as: ‘That’s fantastic news’, and ‘Wait until I tell the kids’.

“Wait until they see the new course, they’ll be blown away,” he said.

Head said he had a preferred new location within the park, but it was too early to know where it would go for certain.

While the lease would not be renewed, Head would continue on a month-by-month basis as plans were worked out.

He was happy to work with the council and commissioners on a common goal the community would “benefit from”.

“That will be my legacy to the city.”

The council’s city development and partnerships manager Gareth Wallis said indoor and outdoor facilities at Memorial Park had been well-used and loved by the community for more than 50 years, but needed an upgrade.

Mini-golf was one of the many iconic and well-used community attractions at the park and it “was never intended to move from Memorial Park”, Wallis said.

However, earlier this year, with the existing lease for the mini-golf course set to expire at the end of this year, the council arranged with Head to move to the monthly lease.

“This meant that people could still enjoy playing a round of golf, while decisions about the future of the wider park were made.”

The council’s Community Facilities Investment Plan 2021 earmarked $90 million for redevelopment of Memorial Park’s aquatics and recreation facilities. This included the replacement of Memorial Pool, the addition of a new indoor pool and the redevelopment of the existing four sports courts, plus one extra. The works were needed to cater for demand driven by a rising population, the plan stated.

Wallis said it was too soon to say where in the park mini-golf will be located in the future or to confirm when the current Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre would be demolished or significantly redeveloped: “It can’t stay as it is.”

“We expect to have a clearer idea when the concept plan for the aquatic and recreation facilities, along with a business case, and proposed costs and timings for the project, are brought to the commission for consideration later in the year.”

Wallis said it was great people felt so passionate about the mini-golf, as reflected in the online poll. These submissions will be taken into consideration “as part of our ongoing engagement with current park tenants and regular users of the recreation facilities, which is all helping to inform our planning for the park’s future”.

Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.