Picture Credit: Mt Maunganui Golf Club
Mount Maunganui Golf Club has completed a significant investment in its facilities as part of an ongoing upgrade, featuring a newly opened practice green.
General manager Michael Williams told the Bay of Plenty Times the development represents the first phase of the club’s comprehensive plan to enhance its facilities. He described the green as “quite an achievement” for a New Zealand club. “This new golfing green is one of the biggest, and it’s right up there with other big golf greens around America and the UK.” In his view, it was also “the best practice facility in this immediate area, and arguably in New Zealand”.
The club’s new practice green, named The Dunes, measures 6,000sqm and features an 18-hole course within itself. It cost nearly $250,000 and will be complemented by a new $2.8 million driving range currently under construction.
“The club is investing just a little over $3 million into facilities, which for any club that’s a lot of money, and probably the most this club has ever spent at one time.”
Williams explained that the new green significantly increases practice capacity, allowing 10 to 20 times more golfers to practice simultaneously.
“We’re a big golf club and one of the busiest in the country for rounds of golf played with 1400 members.
“This expansion is huge for members and visiting golfers to practice their putting and chipping, and it should see a lot more people down here at the same time,” Williams said.
The green was designed by Phil Tataurangi, one of New Zealand’s most accomplished professional golfers, who also developed the club’s master plan. Tataurangi worked on the project for seven months—designing, clearing the site, and constructing the facility.
“It’s been a bit of a windy road to be fair, we started back in September last year when we started demo-ing everything,” Tataurangi said.
“I think that got everyone’s mouths wide open and panicking because we were tearing up their old putting green.”
Tataurangi identified practice facilities as a key area for improvement at the club.
“The driving range was too small, and the green was too small for the current utilisation of the course, so we set a vision to have a playground where people could come out and use the entire area.
“Golf gets a bit serious sometimes, and this is just intended to have lots of fun.”
The name “The Dunes” draws inspiration from the course’s proximity to the beach, just “a couple of hundred metres” away, with Tataurangi incorporating coastal themes into the new facilities.
