Duvauchelle To Have 70-acre Golf Course

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30481, 1 July 1964, Page 5

Duvauchelle To Have 70-acre Golf Course

Plans submitted by the Akaroa Golf .Club for the development of 70 acres of land at Duvauchelle as an 18-hole golf course have been approved by the Akaroa County Council, which will grant the club a long lease. The area is part of a 107-acre block which the council bought recently from Mrs C. B. Thacker for £15,000.

The club proposes to spend £BOOO on development of the course, the sum including £2400 for the preparation of greens and tees and £lOOO for a water supply. The club will raise the money by debentures and, it is understood, much of the money has already been promised.

Experts on course lay-out have inspected the land,-most of which is flat and gently hilly, running back from the State highway at Duvauchelle. The council bought the area as a recreational reserve, and will also lease sections of it to the Peninsula Horse Show and Pastoral Association for its annual shows, the Banks Peninsula Pony Club, and other bodies that may be interested.

The club asked the council to consider granting it a long lease, pointing out that the high development costs were such as to warrant security of tenure. The council will grant the club either a 21-year renewable lease, or a 66-year lease. For the first five years,

the club will pay £2OO a year rental. By then, it is thought, the course should be a “going concern," raising a considerable sum by way of green fees and membership, and the rental will then be reviewed.

Having received council approval to go ahead, the club will graze the area heavily for two years, stocking it to capacity with sheep. Formerly used as a hay paddock, the block will thus be worked down to a better turf. It is expected that the course will be ready for play in the autumn or winter of 1966. While the course.itself will be under the control of the club, the council has reserved the right of overriding authority. The council bought the land by raising a loan, and annual repayment charges are about £l2OO. Some time ago, the council decided to meet these charges by an annual payment of £7OO from money received from land subdivisions, and to raise the rest from grazing fees and from rentals paid by organisations using the land.

The club has given an undertaking that it will develop its area by tree planting, and intends to built a clubhouse on a quarter-acre section on the edge of the golf course area. This section was given to the club by Mrs Thacker.