Golf has been played in Wānaka for well over 100 years and the history of the Wānaka Golf Club mirrors this town’s history.

John Carter’s recently published book ‘For the Love of Golf’ reveals golf’s early days in the hands of enthusiastic farmers, store keepers and other professionals as a who’s who of Wānaka’s early settlers which outlines their challenges to put roots down.

While NZ’s first golf club was established in Dunedin in 1871, the sport’s popularity quickly spread. In his book, John says there’s some evidence golf may have been played in Wānaka around the same time but early records of who played and when were lost in a fire. 

By 1911, however, the Wānaka Golf Club was established with 23 members playing on a nine-hole links course constructed on The Commonage (now Pembroke Park/Showgrounds).

Local policeman Jim Brooks tees off at No 1 on the Commonage. PHOTO: Harris Family

The Commonage provided grazing for the milking cows of local residents who owned no grazing land and this first golf course was brutally basic.

John’s book describes the links without defined fairways and the “greens” were formed by removing the pasture and native grasses down to smooth dirt, which allowed “the golf balls to run true”; the greens were fenced with a single strand of barbed wire to keep the cattle from “leaving their calling cards”.

Many balls were lost down rabbit holes and, although there was no clubroom, members dug a bush toilet in some nearby trees, and formal golf matches (such as a 27-hole interclub fixture between Cromwell and Wānaka) were celebrated with “post-match afternoon teas at Wānaka Station”, John said.

It is acknowledged the course owed its existence to experienced golfer Charles Turnbull, Wānaka Station’s manager at that time, who was prepared to instruct others in the art of golf. 

Early members, both men and women, included names long associated with Wānaka, such as Faulks, Templeton, Perrow, Mackay, Collings, Hunt, Halliday, Scaife and Wilson.

Jim Faulks (left) on the front nine with the view down to Pembroke Park and the lake in 1932. PHOTO: Harris Family

John said the club’s membership grew strongly until 1914 when World War I saw a drop in attendance which forced the club into recess. It was successfully revived in 1922 and golf has been played in Wānaka continuously since then.

By 1923 the club had 40 members and by 1924 it was considered to be a major winter sport in Wānaka. 

Busy summer farming duties meant the golf season started in autumn and ended at Labour weekend each year. Stock grazed the area during the spring and summer and it required a lot of labour from its members to bring the course back to a suitable standard before the start of each season in April.

Such was the popularity of golf that by 1926 the community decided to establish a purpose-built 18 hole course and signed the lease of Crown reserve land on the terrace above the town (roughly where the club’s current front nine holes still exist). 

The new course, officially opened in 1927, was set on 72 acres, plus land across Cardrona Valley Road owned by the Faulks family (now largely Faulks Terrace Park), providing a total area over 100 acres (40.5ha).

The Wānaka Golf Club built its original clubhouse in 1927 and a portion of the original clubhouse still exists in the current clubhouse. PHOTO: Harris Family

The new fairways were cleared of matagouri, briar and tussock, John said, and a concrete clubhouse was built by engineers Tom and James Templeton. During the summer the clubrooms were let to summer visitors as holiday accommodation.

A small portion of the original clubhouse opened in 1927 still exists within the current clubhouse, off Ballantyne Road.

Greens were created by 18 members, each taking responsibility for one green. To this day some of the greens still retain the original names gifted by their creators, such as Brooklands built by constable Jim Brooks, and Pill Box built by Dr Elmslie.

The current arterial connection between MacDougall and Cardrona Valley Roads didn’t exist then. Instead upper Youghal Street wound its way through the golf course (along what is now the club’s fifth fairway) to meet Cardrona Valley Road. Yougall Street was eventually closed to traffic in the early 1990s after which the council formed the present walkway and added the remaining roadway and reserve land to the club’s lease.

In March 1929 the Wānaka Golf Club became an incorporated society. John noted that even though the township was named Pembroke until 1940, the club has always identified itself as the Wānaka Golf Club. 

Although a kitchenette was added to the clubrooms in 1938 (and electricity connected in 1939), the clubhouse had no bar “so the after-golf watering hole was usually the Wānaka Hotel”, John said. This changed in the 1950s when the clubrooms (the 19th hole) obtained a liquor licence and needed to be extended to cater for the increased patronage.

Five new holes were constructed on the eastern side of Ballantyne Road in 1947 to replace the five holes on the Faulks’ family land which was required for a residential subdivision. 

By 1970 the club had 85 competitive members but as the course improved and Wānaka’s population increased so membership boomed. Fifty years later and the club averages just under 1,000 paid up members and hosts plenty more visiting players.

‘For the Love of Golf’ is not John’s first published book; he wrote ‘Four Threads, One Life’ - an autobiography reflecting on four elements of his life; flying, motorsport, outdoor adventures and his career as a professional surveyor.

A golf player himself, John said he happily agreed to write the book capturing 100 years of Wānaka Golf Club’s history when the WGC’s centenary committee asked him.

He said the highlight of the research was meeting some of the older golfers, listening to their stories, and borrowing their old photos for inclusion in the book.

Originally the club was considering celebrating its 100 year anniversary this year, and the book’s initial 500 copy print run was timed to match the 2022 date, but the committee has now decided to postpone the celebrations until either 2027 or 2029 to better reflect the club’s history at its current course.

‘For the Love of Golf’ is available from the WGC’s Proshop, Paper Plus Wānaka and The Next Chapter bookstore.