City gem's significance demands it be left alone

Chamberlain Park is the only 18-hole public course in central Auckland. As such, it offers a vital access point for those wanting to play the game. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Local board’s carve-up plan ignores the important role Chamberlain Park Golf Course plays in Auckland.

In the eyes of the Albert-Eden Local Board, the Chamberlain Park Golf Course is an unacceptable luxury because of the shortage of open sport and leisure space in its bailiwick.

It, therefore, wants to carve off a substantial part of the course for the likes of sports fields, a playground and a formal garden.

But the local board is disregarding the fact that Chamberlain Park plays a role that has an importance far beyond its boundaries.

The public golf course's significant place in Auckland's wider sporting framework demands that it be left untouched.

Chamberlain Park is the only 18-hole public course in central Auckland. As such, it offers a vital access point for those wanting to play the game.

This, allied with its affordability, means it is frequented by golfers of all different stripes and skill levels. For the best part of a century, it has fulfilled its role admirably.

It is understandable enough that this 32ha of council-owned and managed greenery should be coveted by those wishing to provide for a wide array of leisure activities for a growing population.

But the local board needs to understand the place that the course occupies in the hearts of generations of golfers who have relished its easy accessibility from downtown Auckland, its cheap green fees, and its absence of stuffiness.

It needs to recognise also that what it provides is irreplaceable. And that if a carve-up goes ahead and the course is reduced to, say, six or nine holes, a city gem will be lost forever.