Big drive brings club out of the rough
Neither wind nor pestilence stops many golfers from enjoying a round on their local course, as management of Nelson Golf club discovered when its members’ storm relief efforts came to the fore last week.
General manager James Cooper said a number of members ‘‘responded brilliantly’’ in the aftermath of last Thursday’s storm to ensure the 18 hole course was ready in time for the club open day last Saturday.
‘‘We really didn’t need to put out a call, we had members coming down here the moment they were safely able to come to the golf course and asking how they could help.
‘‘In actual fact, had we gone to a wider working bee situation we would have had too many people.’’
A team of about 25 members, including a group of regular players known as ‘ The Thursday Club’ joined staff in clearing the mess left behind by ex-cyclone Fehi.
Washed-up debris on the course and erosion of the outer areas of the course meant the Tahunanui course was down to 13 holes on Friday as remedial work got under way.
‘‘We did have a bit of chewing out on our 14th tee and the back of our 7th, but not as such that the golf course was unplayable.’’
Large pools of water had also gathered on the 14th fairway and between the 3rd and 4th holes.
‘‘We had to bring in our out-ofbounds stakes a little just for safety purposes so that no one ended up too close to the edge because the conditions had changed considerably with the erosion that took place during the storm.
‘‘The main thing was to clear that so that people could actually play golf on the fairways and the greens,’’ Cooper said.
‘‘Fortunately, the greens and so on weren’t damaged in any big way and we were able to play 18 holes.’’
Cooper acknowledged the efforts of course superintendent Brendan O’Hara and his team in leading the clean-up.
‘‘They did the bulk of the work and then led the volunteers in the response – my role was fairly limited when I compare it to what they did.’’
The affected seventh hole was adjacent to the airport perimeter walkway which has been indefinitely closed by the significant erosion on the seaward stretch of the walkway that had undermined the path in other areas.
Cooper said while the club had avoided any serious long-term damage to its premises, he sympathised with the issues faced by the airport in addressing the erosion.
‘‘I was chatting to [CEO] Rob [Evans] yesterday and they’ve probably had a greater problem than we’ve had with the last two storms that have come through.’’
Cooper said the outer areas of the course had withstood previous storms thanks to cement and rockwall boundaries being built around the edge to mitigate the weather impact.
A native Australian who worked on golf courses in Sydney and South-East Queensland prior to his Nelson appointment 18 months ago, Cooper said he was no stranger to similar storm conditions in his homeland.
‘‘This time of year in Australia, particularly up north, is monsoonal time so there’s lots of cyclones and heavy evening downpours.
‘‘Much like Asia, they come fairly quick, drop a deluge and then disappear fairly quickly as well.’’