Teeoff time almost here for floating harbour hole
NO ifs, ands or putts, Otago Harbour Golf Challenge remains afloat and is expecting to reopen by the end of this month.
The Dunedin business opened on a small reserve south of Vauxhall Yacht Club in 2019, and offers golfers a chance to win $10,000 if they can score a holeinone by hitting a golf ball into a hole on a floating pontoon, positioned 95m away on Otago Harbour.
The facility also contains kayak, funboat and Ebike hires.
Owner Peter Graham said it was unfortunate the business opened about the same time as the Covid19 pandemic hit, forcing him to suspend his operations.
However, he was excited about the amount of interest he was now receiving from Dunedin residents about using the facilities.
‘‘We pulled the pin after Covid.
‘‘We thought we’d just sit back and wait and see what happens with the borders.’’
Despite the temporary closure, he said staff had continued to work on the business, including bringing a shipping container to the site to store the bikes and kayaks.
Over the past month, he had started receiving calls from the public, asking when it would reopen.
‘‘I’m getting so many calls coming in, asking about it.
‘‘There’s heaps of phone calls in the weekends from people planning walking trips, wanting to know if the cafe is open.
‘‘There’s also lots of people wanting to hire water [equipment] and Ebikes, since it’s a nice cheap affordable option for Dunedin folk to explore the new cycle track to Macandrew Bay that has recently been completed.
‘‘It’s on everybody’s radar to go there over the summer.
‘‘It’s a sign that it’s time to reopen, I think.’’
Mr Graham said that initially, the coffee/cafe and the Ebike, kayak and paddleboard hire would reopen at weekends and on the occasional Friday afternoon or evening.
The holeinone facility would reopen soon after.
‘‘We won’t be able to open it until we recruit more ballretrieval staff, since we’re starting from scratch again.
‘‘The golf will start once we’ve hired enough people for that.’’