Fairway to heaven as Dave Dobbyn and Stellar rock Waipu Golf Course

John Triggs of the Waipu Golf Club, which is planning a concert "Waipu Rocks" on its practice fairway in January. Photo / John Stone

When you need to raise money to improve your golf club there's one not-so-obvious solution - hold a major music festival on the fairway.

And that's exactly what Waipu Golf Club has done, holding the Waipu Rocks - Concert on the Green event featuring Kiwi music great Dave Dobbyn.

Club captain and concert organiser John Triggs said the concert, on January 13, would also feature heavyweight Kiwi rockers Stellar*, Tim & Ra and the psychedelic stylings of Brendon Thomas and the Vibes, who came third in X Factor NZ 2016.

Mr Triggs said the concert would be held in a natural amphitheatre on the club's practice fairway "with fabulous views over the sea" and he felt a rock concert and golf club would be a unique mix that will attract the punters.

"We've got a great club and course here. Our greens are great and as good as anywhere, but the fairways need quite a bit of work. It's going to cost a lot of money so we thought rather than organising the sausage sizzles and other little fundraisers, we'd do something big, so we came up with the idea of a rock concert over the time of year when there will be lots of visitors here too," he said.

"It should be a fantastic day. It's such great venue and Dave Dobbyn is such an iconic figure in Kiwi music - and we know he loves coming to the North - that we thought people would be keen to experience such a unique event."

Mr Triggs said the concert would open with Tim & Ra at 4.30pm, followed by Brendon Thomas and the Vibes, then Stellar* and Dave Dobbyn headlining.

"As far as we know this is the only major rock concert at a golf course anywhere in the world, and certainly in New Zealand. Raising funds other ways, such as applying for grants etc, would take a long time and be very time consuming so we thought this would be a great idea and we hope people get behind it," he said.

"We're thinking it would be great to have the sun going down over the beautiful Bream Bay while Dave Dobbyn sings Loyal to thousands of people all loving the atmosphere and having a great time. That would be magic."

He said with camping grounds and holiday accommodation in the area usually packed at that time of the year, the concert was also being marketed around the accommodation sector and in Auckland, which was an easy trip to make. The club plans to run concerts for the next five years.

There will be no camping on the golf course, but there will be buses running from Kamo, Whangarei, Waipu and Mangawhai. Tickets for the R18 show cost $95.