The sad state of Gulf Harbour Country Club which closed suddenly in July. Photo / Frazer Bond
The sad state of Gulf Harbour Country Club which closed suddenly in July. Photo / Frazer Bond
The new owner of Auckland’s now-shut Gulf Harbour Country Club on the Whangaparāoa Peninsula plans to sell 51.3ha to fund the upgrade of a much smaller 37.5ha course.
Planners Tripp Andrews applied to Auckland Council for a boundary adjustment by golf course owner Long River Investment Corporation, associated with developerGreg Olliver, banned in 2021 from managing companies for four years. Olliver is Long River’s former director.
The planners want the council to agree to the change without notification and without limited notification, meaning no submissions would be allowed from anyone who might consider themselves affected.
Plans for 51.3ha of Gulf Harbour Country Club to be split off, outlined in red. The smaller remaining course is outlined in blue at the top. Photo / Tripp Andrews' application
But locals are unhappy.
Keep Whangaparāoa’s Green Spaces Incorporated Society said the application was “a cynical and disingenuous attempt to over-build Gulf Harbour by undermining the 999-year encumbrance that protects the Golf Course land as open space”, a statement said.
It wants the council to stand by the encumbrance and not agree to the boundary change application.
The planners said the club had been one of New Zealand’s premier golfing destinations for the past 25 years.
The 18-hole championship course and country club opened in 1997 and hosted several championship golf events such as the 1998 World Cup of Golf, the 2005 and 2006 New Zealand Open and the 2023 NZPGA Championship.
Property developer Greg Olliver, who has been banned from managing companies. Photo / File
“There is a wealth of background available online on both the Gulf Harbour Country Club and the wider Gulf Harbour area available online, including numerous media reports following the closure in July 2023,” they said.
Since opening, it has had numerous owners, all attempting unsuccessfully to run a financially viable golfing operation.
“The primary reason for this is that course routing is not sustainable due to the required maintenance of the approximate 90ha footprint of the property”, Tripp Andrews says.
That would be resolved by selling much of that land.
Gulf Harbour Country Club
Most 18-hole golf courses are only about 50ha, they said.
But Gulf Harbour is “almost double the size that it needs to be”, the planners said citing two examples: the North Shore Golf Club and the Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club. They were both 27-hole golf courses.
Gulf Harbour had a significantly bigger footprint than either of those but only offered 18 holes, the planners wrote.
“This application is the first step in the golf course redevelopment. The area to the north of Gulf Harbour Drive will be sold to fund the golf course redevelopment over a more sustainable footprint,” Tripp Andrews says.
The sad state of Gulf Harbour Country Club which closed suddenly in July. Photo / Frazer Bond
Due to the shape of the 51.3ha lot to be sold, it will not be possible to consolidate an 18-hole course routing within that.
So contracts to buy further coastal land adjacent to the existing golf course on Daisy Burrell Dr are in place.
“Once completed, the golf course portion of the development will have an increased coastal outlook with a more manageable footprint and will create more opportunities for coastal public access,” the application says.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this application does not seek to alter any of the previous golfing activities or establish any new activities on site. The proposal simply seeks to alter the title arrangement to pave the way for future statutory approval applications and.... purchases which cannot proceed for commercial reasons until the boundary adjustment has been completed,” Tripp Andrews says.
The sad state of Gulf Harbour Country Club which closed suddenly in July. Photo / Frazer Bond
The society strongly opposes the changes.
It’s not in the interests of the community, it said.
Gulf Harbour residents were well aware of the severe service infrastructure constraints, especially roading and traffic, that currently plague the area, the society said.
The empty 8547sqm site for sale in the Gulf Harbour Marine Village, in Auckland's Rodney district, is for sale by way of tender, closing June 27. Photo / Supplied
More than 1000 more dwellings were yet to be built at Gulf Harbour on land already zoned for building as of right.
“The existing inadequate infrastructure would be severely compromised by any further housing or rest home building on top of the 1000 more to come,” a statement said.
The society said more than 4600 signatures were on a petition opposing changes.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
