Golf links to past glory

BY: IMOGEN NEALE

Golf-star-turned-golf course designer Greg Turner wants to recreate one of his finest moments and he wants to do it at the Papakura Golf Course.

The company that owns the nine-hole public course wants to redevelop the 1.28-hectare site into a retirement village and adjoining "boutique" four-hole golf course.

Mr Turner has been asked by Honk! Group to design the four holes, each based on a famous international hole.

The four he’s picked are the number one at Royal Melbourne, the 17th at Loch Lomond in Scotland, the 17th at Sawgrass in the United States and the 18th at Scotland’s St Andrews.

Mr Turner says one of his proudest moments was being the first to tee off from the number one at Royal Melbourne for the President’s Cup tournament in 1998.

He says he didn’t let the pressure get to him – even with then United States president George W Bush and Australian prime minister John Howard watching over his shoulder.

"The drive was pretty straight," he says.

Mr Turner’s been working with the company for more than two years to find a way to make Papakura’s public course profitable again.

"It’s a worldwide problem golf is facing right now.

"You don’t have to look far to find many established golf courses throughout the developed world that have declining and ageing memberships and increasing financial challenges.

"Without wanting to be too simple about it, I think a major cause is the increasing pace of life faced by developed countries.

"In one way golf can look to cricket for the answer.

"That sport has introduced faster forms of the game which are as popular as ever with spectators and players.

"Golf can do this and Papakura could lead the way."

But before the grand plans can go ahead an encumbrance placed on the land’s title in 1993 by the Papakura District Council needs to be lifted.

The restriction was put in place when the council sold the land and aimed at ensuring it was always a golf course.

Council spokesman Mark Baker says the development will have to go through the normal council and Auckland Regional Council consenting procedures.

"The encumbrance will only be lifted if those processes are successful," he says.

Last week’s news that the course could be developed has led nearby residents to call an urgent community meeting for tonight.

In a statement one of the group’s members Hilda Smith says: "Once the golf course is gone it will be gone forever.

"If the owners of the Bellfield Rd complex are not interested in running the property as a golf course then let them sell it to someone who is. They knew the rules when they bought it and now they want to circumvent them."

Mrs Smith says building on the land looks to be a "lucrative deal and the very thing the encumbrance was supposed to protect the land from will happen if this encumbrance is lifted".

"Lifting the encumbrance is only the first step," she says.

"It does not guarantee that a retirement village will be built on the land. It only removes the promise that the council made to the Papakura community.

"If the developers find that a retirement village might not be a viable venture, what is to stop them developing the land with, for example, low-cost multi-storey flats or a private prison?"

Tonight’s meeting starts at 7.30pm at 4a Alderton Place.

Mr Turner will host public information days at the Bellfield Rd complex on February 9 at 5pm and February 14 at 11am.

The council opened public consultation on the move last week. It closes on February 24. Submission forms are available from the council, Sir Edmund Hillary Library or online at www.papakura.govt.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News