KEY POINTS:
It has been 72 years - 72 peaceful years - since bulldozers turned a nondescript slice of Remuera real estate into one of the country's finest 18-hole golf courses.
Now, almost without warning, the lazy "thwock" of a nine-iron has been replaced by shrill chirping in the boardroom
in an increasingly bitter battle over the running of one of Auckland's poshest golf clubs.
And right in the thick of the hostilities are some well-known Auckland faces.
The brouhaha is over multi-million-dollar plans, approved two years ago, to redevelop the par-72 Remuera Golf Course - a venue that has hosted a number of top New Zealand golf events. Five holes have been completed, but the rest of the estimated $6 million redevelopment is now in limbo as the warring continues.
Leading the revolt against the club's board is former deputy PM Bob Tizard, National Party high-flier Michelle Boag, Oceania Football Confederation president Charlie Dempsey and former radio presenter Gordon Dryden.
They don't believe the club's 1500 members have had sufficient say over the plans and they're angry about having to fork out for the board's efforts to make Remuera the biggest and best course in Auckland.
As you'd expect from any stoush of this nature, there's plenty of mudslinging going on in both directions.
Dempsey, 85, has been accused of using the Remuera course as his own personal racetrack following reports of him hooning up and down the fairways in his golf cart.
Tizard, 83, and a club member for 70 years, is also in the firing line after lodging a legal challenge against the board for refusing to make him club captain.
And Boag has taken the board to task over its lavish spending plans.
Meanwhile, two board members have been booted out, there's been anonymous threatening letters, talks of a coup and general manager Bruce White's been criticised for trying to railroad the revamp through.
Dempsey laughed off suggestions he was dangerous on the golf course, saying he was always very careful when behind the golf cart wheel.
Boag said there was some pretentiousness with the redevelopment plans, with a group of board members wanting Remuera to eclipse the likes of Gulf Harbour and The Grange.
"Remuera isn't Auckland Golf Club. Most just go along for their game of golf once a week and love it," she said.
Boag said she wasn't going to be pushed around by the board who had misjudged the situation and now had "some very unhappy people".
"They should have realised there are some of us who have quite a bit of experience in cementing a bit of revolt around the place."
Most club members were in their 60s and didn't want to bear the total cost of the redevelopment when all future players would benefit.
Tizard blames the board and "its arrogance" for the current standoff.
He said he put his name forward for club captain, but the offer was rejected because he was an honorary member and therefore not entitled to hold any position in office.
Tizard has now challenged that, invoking a clause in the club constitution which says he can take the board to arbitration.
"I can't tell you [how it will work] because it's never been done before.
"I have seen every mistake that has been made in the club since 1935 and I hope I have learned to cope with the lessons of some of them."
White refused to respond to any of the members' allegations, saying the Remuera Golf Club was a private golf club and "did not conduct its affairs via the news media".
