Waitomo Golf Club
Waitomo Golf and Country Club members have been given 31 days to decide whether to accept an offer of ownership of a $1 million course and clubhouse currently owned by Ōtorohanga Club.
The future of Waitomo Golf and Country Club will be decided at a members’ meeting on Sunday.
Ōtorohanga Club merged with Waitomo Golf and Country Club (pictured right) in 2012 after the golf club faced financial difficulties in its centenary year.
Ōtorohanga Club members have been questioning whether their involvement is needed in the $20,000 a year operation for some time. They met on Sunday and voted to offer the golf course and clubhouse to a new legal entity governed by the golf club committee.
“It was an excellent meeting,” said golf club president Steve Wilshier.
“We will take the offer from Ōtorohanga Club to the golf club membership.”
The Waitomo Golf club has been catering for golfers for more than 100 years.
Three quarters of the 240 golf club members must agree to form the new entity, for the proposal to proceed. The golf club must also wait 31 days before it formally responds to the offer.
“Our current golf club committee are happy to take it on, and the challenges that go with it,” Wilshier said.
The News understands an estimated $300,000 is needed to upgrade the aging clubhouse.
Wilshier said the clubhouse needed a new roof, and remodelling to suit the changing needs of the club. More room is needed for golf cart garaging, for example, while there is too much room for changing facilities dating back to the days when members changed from golf attire to dinner suits to dine in the clubhouse.
“The result is very positive. It’s what I wanted. We will make a good go of it. Everybody is going in the same direction.”
Golf Club membership is about 240 and growing by half a dozen members a month, Wilshier said. There was good growth in younger members aged 16 to 30.
The club’s most famous son is former world amateur champion Phil Tataurangi who became club champion when he played there while his parents were teaching at Kawhia. He attended Te Awamutu College.
The Waitomo Golf Club’s18th green. Photo: Chris Gardner.
