134 | COMMUNITY Omanu Golf: Asset Homes T T Richard Loader New facilities to attract more members Located in Mount Maunganui Omanu Golf Club has always been known as the friendly club. “Golf is booming, and our membership is strong, but we’re at the end of our capacity. We want to bring the game to more people than we can currently offer it to, particularly kids to get them into the sport.” The upgrade of Omanu Golf’s clubhouse currently underway will extend the club’s golfing capacity and the game’s accessibility to a wider sector of the community, including young people. Located in Mount Maunganui, and with a near-to-full capacity membership of 1180, Omanu Golf Club has always been known as the friendly club, with a very strong social spirit. The course was founded in 1971 by locals, as the other two clubs in the region were full, with the club initially operating out of a house before a large, two-storey rectangular clubhouse was built in the late 1970s. In 2002, decking was built on the upper level of the northern, southern and eastern sides. Club general manager Neil Weber says the placement and orientation of the clubhouse is perfect, and lends itself very well to the development that is now underway and expected to be completed in March next year. “Golf is booming, and our membership is strong, but we’re at the end of our capacity. We want to bring the game to more people than we can currently offer it to, particularly kids to get them into the sport. The club house is used very well during the week and the weekends, but most days it closes up around 5.30pm. “We started researching what we could do to expand our playing capacity through a physical build combined with technology to enhance the golfing opportunities that we could offer. Effectively, we’re modernising the look and feel of the clubhouse, extending the upper decking and adding three new golfing facilities, which will be available for night golf, or when the course is closed due to adverse weather, and utilising world-leading Trackman (TM) ball-tracking technology.” The first facility will be a golf simulator that sits within a newly built conference room, enabling a ball to be hit against a screen that records the shot and provides feedback about the swing. That facility will also be available during the day. The second facility will be two TM4 golf practice stations on the lower level, which enable the golfer to play any shot they like, with the ball tracked and information about the shot fed back. Perhaps the jewel in the crown will be the third facility; the six-bay Trackman Course on the upper level at the eastern side, with each bay available to up to four players, who can also enjoy dinner and a few drinks. “One of 180 golf courses (currently) from around the world, including Omanu, will be selected and played from that bay, with each golfer hitting full-flight golf balls that are tracked by the TM technology,” Neil explains. “The only thing you cannot do is putt, so the hole is finished by a short shot, and then you move to the next hole, and keep going until all 18 holes are played, all from the comfort of your bay. “There are only two or three of these types of facilities in New Zealand, but there are many overseas.” Each edition priority delivered to your door. . www.waterfordpress.co.nz/subscriptions . . . i i 03 983 5525 Stay informed; we work with business owners and decision-makers across all economic sectors, profiling their success. i ; i i i i - ll i , ili i . Your Business, Your Industry, Your News. r i , r I tr , r . businessnorth Volume 21 | Issue 3 | June 2022 www.waterfordpress.co.nz businessnorth Looking forward to project completion, Neil says that while the upgrade will bring a whole lot of new facilities to the club’s members that they can use to help their game, the massive benefit will be for the community, visitors and young people. “For most people, whether it’s just a green fee or a full-year membership, golf can be very expensive. These facilities give the ability to have a social evening with family or friends, experience the game, pay as they go and walk away. “They don’t have to be a member to experience the social side or the physical side of hitting a golf ball. It’s an amazing game, but in Omanu’s view it’s not accessible to enough people.” At Gear Welding Services, we tackle projects from the start of structural steel componentry and bespoke decorative aspects, manufacture through to installation. Talk to us about your structural steel, stainless steel, ali welding and bespoke engineering requirements. www.gearwelding.co.nz 027 271 4353 www.gearsteelbuildings.co.nz
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