Golf Wars 2: The golf course strikes back

The Spinoff

6 hours ago

Auckland Council thought it could get rid of one of its 14 golf courses. It's learning a harsh lesson in the power of the putt.
Richard Hills seemed cautiously optimistic as he talked last month about the council's plans to pull off the hardest task in local government, and get rid of a single golf course. The North Shore councillor and Tom Mansell, the council's head of sustainable partnerships, made a robust case for change. They needed to transform much of the park occupied by Takapuna golf course into a wetland if we wanted to avoid a repeat of the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods, where two people died and homes and businesses were washed out in the adjacent Wairau Valley. Political support was swinging in behind their plan. Hills pointed to positive noises from local National MPs Dan Bidois and Simon Watts. Local boards seemed to be backing the idea too.
But there were flickers of doubt. Laughs that betrayed hints of nervousness. Small asides about Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act requests to respond to; letters being sent by golf advocates. Deep down they knew even a bipartisan effort to save lives, homes and businesses from nature's fury wasn't enough to overcome the intoxicating lure of drives, chips and, indeed, putts.
Over the last month, golf has mounted a fierce rearguard action against the council's flagrant efforts to protect the local community. Its campaign has been bolstered by local media, which has devoted several hundred words to the perspective of a woman who thinks her dog will immediately start mainlining duck droppings if the council creates a wetland on the golf course.
The golf course's operators have been pushing an alternative plan, which they claim will retain an 18-hole course while still providing enough drainage for 500 million litres of water. Officials have questions about that plan's buildability, but the course operators possess an ally in Wayne Walker, an Albany councillor who's made a career of opposing council proposals. He's attended several public meetings, where he's shockingly aligned himself with people saying no to the council's plans.
The list of people saying no keeps growing. It's not just Walker and the golf course. Golf NZ is saying no. Harbour Sport is saying no. The dog is saying no. It's got to the point where even people who used to be saying yes are starting to say no. Earlier this week, Bidois and Watts released a statement noting the 'considerable public opposition to the original proposal and the alternative plan put forward by the golf course'. The Kaipātiki Local Board, which covers the area where the course is located and was once seemingly onside with the council's flood mitigation efforts, now appears to be reconsidering its position.
On current trajectory, soon only Hills, Mansell and the ducks will be saying yes. If this sounds familiar, it's because it happens any time any council anywhere tries to remove a single fairway, green or, indeed, rough. There are 43 golf courses in Auckland. The council owns 13 of those. Most are big enough to fit a small town's worth of houses. Many are rented at peppercorn rates. But when the council even started looking funny at the Remuera Golf Course, the Ōrākei Local Board extended its lease until 2091. In 2019, the Albert-Eden Local Board tried to turn nine holes of Chamberlain Park into needed sports facilities. Half of the board members got voted out a few months later.
In a just world, things would be different this time. Taking away nine holes of Takapuna Golf Course wouldn't just give people a place to play cricket; it might actually save their lives. But the council is learning the hard way there's no power in local government stronger than a local retiree's will to spend eight hours haphazardly smacking small white balls in roughly the direction of a hole. Last time I gave the council's redevelopment plans a 50-50 chance of success. Those chances are now 25%, and dropping like a drive upon a perfectly manicured Takapuna green.