View of the 18th from the clubhouse deck
Te Awamutu Golf Club wants to buy neighbouring land to remove and replace the two holes bordering Golf Rd and State Highway 3.
Some buying and selling will increase the footprint of the Te Awamutu Golf Club.
This redevelopment proposal comes after several near misses and vehicles hit by golf balls from the eighth and 18th holes.
Road boundary issues are common for New Zealand golf clubs.
The Te Awamutu course covers 37 hectares – 40 hectares is considered a bare minimum for a golf club – and does not have any areas available to remove and replace the holes.
The club’s management committee plan is to purchase more land which would compensate for losing the road holes and allow for course redevelopment.
Te Awamutu Golf Club
Three of the four boundaries are road. The owners of the only area of land capable of being expanded into have agreed to sell it to the club.
That agreement has a due diligence provision which expires in July 2027.
The only way the club can afford to buy land and redevelop the course is by selling parts of the club’s land and the neighbours’ land which would be rezoned as residential.
“The golf club is excited about the proposal as, if successful, it will mean not only relief from the potential safety problem it has now, but also the development of a new facility that will be available to members and the public,” a statement from the redevelopment committee reads.
Te Awamutu Golf Club
Phil Tataurangi, an old boy of Te Awamutu College, during the Lochiel upgrade, will work on the Te Awamutu course. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
The intention is that the sale of the targeted land would cover the purchase price of the adjacent land, the redevelopment of the golf course and building a new clubhouse and ancillary buildings.
The club has already retained Phil Tataurangi – who worked on the former Lochiel course which is now Tīeke – to complete a preliminary concept for the redeveloped course.
To be able to make the process work, the club must apply to Waipā District Council for a rezoning of the land proposed to be sold. All the land is zoned the land to be sold would be rezoned residential.
After that, the rezoned land would be subdivided into large residential lots, to be sold to a developer.
The club has secured funding from members to apply for the rezoning and has contracted CKL Surveys Ltd for this work.
There is unlikely to be any commercial gain from this process, although the plan is to have surplus funds after the project is completed.
The end result would benefit the club members and the Te Awamutu community as a whole, the committee says.
View of the 18th from the clubhouse deck
