‘Once it’s gone, it’s gone’
Greg Turner is urging the wider Southland community to look at all potential ways to tap into a booming Central Otago golf tourism market before putting up the closed sign at Oreti Sands.
The Southland Golf Club committee told members this week that the club would not be able to continue to operate and maintain the course beyond April 2018.
Southland Golf Club president Michael Horn said unless a third party with an expertise in golf tourism got involved, the world’s southernmost links course would be closed in April.
The club has cut costs to survive financially and has relied solely on volunteers to keep the course running.
However, that is not viewed as a sustainable long-term option.
Turner, a former professional golfer and now a course designer, was a driving force behind the Oreti Sands redevelopment in 2008.
The Invercargill Licensing Trust and Community Trust of Southland both put up $250,000 for the project.
Oreti Sands is regarded a unique course for visitors to play and that redevelopment was seen as a way to help attract more golfers to Invercargill.
However, the visitor numbers they had hoped for have not arrived. On top of that, the Southland Golf Club members have dropped from 400 in 2000 to about 100 this year.
Turner said there was obviously a wider issue in terms of the decline of golf members across the four Invercargill clubs which needed to be addressed.
‘‘Even if Oreti closes - what’s that 90 members possibly spread around the other three clubs - it isn’t going to solve anything for them.
‘‘So it is probably time for a broader conversation around both the local recreational aspects and also the visitor element.’’
Turner felt in many ways the plight of the Oreti Sands course was bigger than just a golf issue for Invercargill, in terms of why it has not become a golfing destination.
‘‘Clearly Oreti should be the jewel in the crown from a visitor point of view, albeit a small crown.
‘‘The golf tourism sector in New Zealand is growing and if anybody is going to attract them to Invercargill it is Oreti.
‘‘The growth of tourism golf in New Zealand has been significant, but I would suspect not many of them that come here are aware of Oreti Sands.’’
‘‘It’s off the charts [in Central Otago]. In fact the biggest issue there is more demand than supply.
‘‘We are looking at a new nine [hole course] at Millbrook, another 18 holes in the Basin, and another course in Wanaka, just be able to meet the current demand, let alone the growth.
‘‘Clearly all that growth into Queenstown hasn’t found its way to Invercargill.
‘‘So the questions are; is it worth chasing? and what would it take?’’
Turner felt at the very least the wider Southland community should look closer into the opportunities that might be available.
‘‘This demise, you might say, might spark a conversation around if maybe golf tourism has been overlooked in Invercargill.
‘‘When you look at the way golfers travel, they like to play a lot of different courses.
‘‘So it is far from a stretch to get them to head to Invercargill to play at Oreti and maybe one of the other courses as well.
‘‘It shouldn’t be a big leap, but it hasn’t happened to the extent it needs to.’’
‘‘Australia is by far the biggest market for Queenstown, and a lot of them are on their third or fourth trip coming here.
‘‘So they are looking for new experiences. The long-haul market not so much.’’
Turner felt a marketing strategy and also the facilities available, would be two areas which would need to be looked at when deciding if Invercargill in fact wants to make a play at trying to get those golfers from Central Otago to the deep south.
‘‘This demise could be the catalyst to get people around the table to talk.
‘‘It better be talked about sooner than later, because once [Oreti Sands] is gone, it’s gone. It would be a hell of an effort to re-establish it.’’