History of Coromandel Golf Club

Number 1 course – Green Hill – 1921-1930

The very first course was 9 holes on cow pasture, mainly Danthonia, supplied by Herman and Bill Denize and cousin W.C. Denize. The pasture was burnt off in the summer so the only colour of grass was the greens which were hand mown and fenced off with “no 8 wire”.

Club days were attended regularly by about 15 members using very rudimentary clubs usually consisting of a wood, mid-iron, cleek, mashie and a putter.

Caddies were a common sight getting paid sixpence for their efforts or 1 shilling if they were topline. There was no clubhouse, so a copper was boiled down by the creek to make tea or soup and create a picnic atmosphere.

Junior golf members were not encouraged and the local youths with their home-made clubs of Teatree could often be seen being chased off the course by senior members.

This area is now mostly covered by housing – the Green Hills estate.

Number 2 course – Quarry Road – 1933–1940

Again, a nine hole course developed by a group of enthusiastic players on pasture land to the right of Quarry Road owned by the infamous ( he wore a dog chain as a belt) Jerry Mannion who later owned Whanganui Island (previously known as Mannion Island). Jerry mowed the greens by hand, keeping them very small in order to maximise the pasture land for his cattle. This made it a very challenging course.

The “clubhouse” was a tin shed with a long drop toilet – a huge improvement over Green Hill! A disused house on the property later became the clubhouse.

The playing season then was quite short partly due to the fact that the hay had to be cut for winter feed.

Many of the holes had names such as Parr, Riverside, Willows, Razorback, Quarries, Harbour View, Wreckers and Tiki.

Stableford didn’t exist then so competitions were either medal play or bogey.

It was on this course that inter-club visits began between Mercury Bay (Brophies couse on Coroglen Rd) and Paeroa.

The club petered out in 1940 when the outbreak of World War ii had a disastrous effect on membership.

Number 3 course – Clarrie McNeil’s Farm Course – 1954–1960

After a long break, it was only when Roy Clark, Jim McKenzie, Bryce Gunn and Norman Turner got together and leased some land off Clarrie McNeil to play golf on for a princely sum of one hundred pounds per year.

It was here, on the “Ponderosa”, that a clubhouse was built and a course formed after many hours of work. Timber was locally sourced and milled by members. Money was short, so seconds of plywood were used to line the clubhouse and a Kauri table and a stove were donated by local philanthropists.

The whole town was invited to the official opening.

Ron McNeil was the first paid Green keeper earning 10/- a week. Otherwise, clearing work and bridge building was carried out by volunteer members as is the case today.

In 1957, the club was first affiliated with Auckland and the club had its first visit to an Auckland club – Pupuke. There President, Jim Bissett, welcomed the Coromandelites and hoped they had a good trip across the Gulf in their canoes!!

Also, in 1957, Aubin Heard founded the Auckland Golfing “Eagles” Society visiting Coromandel for the first time. This became an annual event right up to the present day.

The cost of the lease eventually became too restrictive and the opportunity arose to purchase the present golf course site so the decision was made to leave.

Hauraki Road Course – 1960 onwards

With a loan from the bank and various loans from members, the current course was purchased from Len Bethel and development started in 1961. Bridle Bros were contracted with bulldozers to take Gorse, Scrub, Raupo Swamps and mine tailings and try to get grass to grow on it, a seemingly impossible task.

A determined bunch of men working many, many hours knocked the course into shape supported by their wives keeping them fed and watered. So many well-known locals also gave their time and machinery free of charge to help get the work done. It was a real community project. Some members who were unable to attend working bees would actually pay someone to take their place to get the work done!

In 1962 the first sheep were introduced to the course. This farming practice has provided an income for the club right up to the present day and has enabled membership fees to remain low.

As time went by, the course layout changed but those hard core pioneers did a great job in laying the foundations of what we have today.

Initially, the old clubhouse was moved from the Clarrie McNeil’s Farm Course and another storey added to cater for the increased membership. The present clubhouse was started in 1979 and for the princely sum of $38,000 and endless hours of volunteer labour including seven builders, three electricians and two plumbers, it was completed in 1980.

The trundle shed (which used to be the old Oyster opening shed) by the car park was purchased from Wyborn Marine Farms for $1000 and transported to the site by Mike Rabarts. As the old slaughter house, that housed the machinery, was rapidly deteriorating, it was decided to tender for the TCDC Wharf Shed. After a successful bid, the shed was carefully dismantled and transported to the present site by Jim Davies and Doug Harvey for very little cost. A concrete floor was poured using metal from Papa Aroha beach mixed in the ready mix truck. With the help of Jim Davies digger and many volunteers, the shed was re-erected for a total cost of $11,000.

In 2006 the sheep were finally moved off the playing surface as more mowing took place. In 2012, due to the falling price of wool and lamb, the sheep were phased out and cattle introduced. With the help of an additional paddock in the centre of the course and the club now runs approx. 30 head for most of the year.

Since the retirement of our Green keeper of 18 years, Keith Stevenson, in 2018, the course and farm have been maintained entirely by volunteers keeping up the tradition of the last 100 years. This has resulted in Coromandel Golf Club being recognized as being one of the 10 best 9-hole courses in New Zealand.