For years, Mt Maunganui Golf Club has boasted a million-dollar layout and clubrooms, only to be let down by comparative $2 practice and coaching facilities.
No longer.
The coastal club, which next year hosts the New Zealand amateur matchplay championships, has now got some of the most modern coaching and practice facilities in New Zealand after the recent opening of its revamped practice fairway and a specialised short-game area adjoining the sixth green.
Allied with the indoor teaching facility, which opened last year, Mount's director of golf Robert Rookes is enthused about what he and PGA teaching professional Luke Nobilo can now offer players of all abilities.
Club members had flocked to use the new practice range, with the ground flattened and contoured to offer target greens at 100, 135m and 150m, as well as the new short-game area with its undulating green and range of bunkers.
"Having worked in good facilities in Europe when I was there it has been regurgitating in my mind after coming back here, with the level of technical support on offer now meaning coaching just doesn't take place in the middle of a ground somewhere with the pro leaning on a 7 iron for half-an-hour," Rookes said.
"Here at the Mount we've got a good course and good facilities but have been burdened with the worst practice and coaching facilities. But it's now at a level where we're a complete facility, a one-stop shop that's fully operational in all weather."
Golfers have embraced what's on offer if the number of range balls flying out of the pro shop give an accurate indication. Rookes said for many members a pre-round warm-up would have entailed five minutes of putting on the old practice green beside the clubhouse.
"Now we're seeing veterans, ladies, men and juniors hitting buckets of balls and using our short-game area. The club's investment in time, labour and money is around the $100,000 mark, enhanced by $40,000 worth of technical equipment Luke and I use.
"It's a brave effort in this environment but already it's paying off."
Rookes' new coaching hut contains the latest gadgetry, providing accurate scientific and technical data across the spectrum, from driving to putting, and looking at ball flight, spin rates and launch angles.
Players, particularly the younger ones, demanded the best in analysis to make sure they were maximising their coaching and time on the range.
"Players are reading a lot more about the science behind their swings, totally reliant on ball flight and spin rate. There hasn't been more books written about a sport in terms of technique than golf, but in reality it still comes down to your eye.
"All the multi-camera analysis, the flightscope laser tracking device that follows the ball and reads spin angles and the angle of attack, and the puttlab is three times as much as anyone will ever need.
"The only thing we haven't got into yet is the 3D vest, but it all starts getting a bit ludicrous after a while."
So where do the technical advances end?
"With clubs, who knows, and with everything else we're constantly getting updates, but you look at what we've got now and wonder how the hell it can be updated. We could easily spend six figures a year on new equipment but in the end it still comes down to what a player sees and feels."