History
From Suggestion To Reality - A Brief History
The Suggestion...
A hardy band of people had been playing golf together for some time at Dave Stuart’s public course at Willowbank (adjacent to the Judgeford Golf Club).
History has it that Bob Lind suggested that this regular group of players form a golf club. The inaugural meeting to form this Club was held on Sunday, 30 April 1967.
Paddy Bishop – Club Captain
Chris Rees – Secretary/Manager
Ron Harper – Chairman
Committee – Messrs Gray, Porteous, Davis and Harman were appointed.
The Venue...
After declining options at Murphy’s Road and Battle Hill, the present site was settled on.
The road into the present site bears no resemblance to the “goat track” in the early days. All the cars had to be left at the gate with occupants having to walk the half-mile or so to the course. The land itself as you might imagine was not the land we know today. It was originally farmland and from all accounts sported a grand group of thistles. To remove these initially, Norm Gray dragged concrete posts behind his Pontiac using them as harrows. Little transport could be used on the course proper in those early days and all the soil for the Greens had to be barrowed to them.
The first clubhouse was a tent, which occupied land where the sheds now stand.
The Course...
The initial course design was the brainchild of the establishing committee.
Any variations were the work of an intrepid bunch of guys called “Dad’s Army”
Its members comprising Alwyn Atkinson, Charlie Webb, Dennis Oliver, Bill Evans, Jensen Parata, Roy Tait and Morrie Cottle (if I have anyone off, my apologies).
An example of this initiative is the 2nd teeing area, which has that awkward slope in it. This was Alwyn’s contribution of mounding up the over fill and filling in some of the swampy area. Ask anyone? It is a difficult tee shot without the slope!
Ian Woodbury, Alan Guise and George Slade from the Hutt Golf Club had a tremendous input into the layout.
Although the course in early times was not up to recognised standards, it was more than compensated for by the fellowship and hospitality that followed a round of golf. It is something we still aspire to today. We may apologise for the state of some of the greens to our guests but hark back to these guys and the toil and sweat they went through to give us what we have. Yes, even the Naenae P&T chipped in with copti-flex cable and poles. DSIR dobbed in with their drilling equipment for the holes etc....
Our then only life member, the late Charlie Webb, donated the first tractor. There were however so many contributions by those early people that it is impossible to name them all. Suffice to say that they were people to whom this Club owes a tremendous debt of gratitude.