Gleniti stalwart a driving force behind the club’s resurgence

By Neville Idour

Timaru golf club Gleniti is one those humble clubs that tends to fly under the radar.

But not any longer.

In August the club celebrated the opening of a classy driving range and café which has given it greater accessibility and profile in the community.

Gleniti was founded in 1928 as a 12-hole course on land within Pages and Gleniti Roads.

In 1965 the club bought the Burns property which had boundaries on Pages and Oakwood Roads and was able to extend the course to 18 holes.

The property had a stately old homestead which eventually became the current clubhouse. With improvements, by way of extensions and modifications, the clubhouse is a popular venue for weddings and other functions.

The club’s professional golfer Peter Hayes has been a huge driving force since taking up the position in June, 2019. His journey there is well worth exploring.

Caption: Peter Hayes from Gleniti Golf Club in Timaru. He’s been with the club for 40 years and is now one of the driving forces at the club.

He has been a member for 40 years and has won the club championships on 20 occasions from the 1980s until the last one in 2010 when he turned professional.

Since the arrival of covid-19 there has been growth in membership and in the first year in the position he signed up about 70 new members across all categories.

Hayes said: “For the last two years I have run beginners' ladies groups on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

``It is very popular with an hour's coaching followed by nibbles and wine enabling friendships to be made.

``A couple of lady volunteers help and in winter we try to run them twice a month on Sundays. Usually around 30 attend and about 50 percent join the club.

“We also do junior clinics on Mondays during daylight saving for youngsters from five years up to high schoolers and we have gained members from that.

``I would like the club to appoint a junior convenor so we can do Sundays as well, to keep the children motivated. A junior tournament between two high schools during the January school holidays was very popular and we will continue with that.”

Hayes began playing golf when he was a 12-year-old.

“During the school holidays I lived at the Highfield Golf Club for two weeks. I biked down every morning and didn’t come home until it was practically dark.

``Dad had made me a carrier to help. It kept me off the street I suppose. Many good golfers came out of the junior programme at Highfield such as John Lister, Jim Lapsley and others.”

“I stayed at Highfield and also played rugby for the first 15. However I got the bug for golf and chucked rugby.

``I got into golf seriously and at 15 years of age I was on a five handicap. I was picked for a South Island coaching school in Timaru which was one the hardest weeks of golf I have experienced.

``Early starts, hitting balls but not playing at all. Alex Mercer would give us a report at the end of each day. He honed my iron play as I hit a 3 iron for a week and blisters resulted. I was like a sponge at that stage but I will never forget that tough week.”

Hayes played for his province for the first time at the 1982 Interprovincials at Balmacewen in Dunedin. He played 106 games for the Aorangi district with good success and also played 75 games in the Masters.

He was asked to be a Golf New Zealand selector around 2000.

``I was a councillor for Aorangi at the time. They needed a selector in the South Island and that was a huge privilege.

``I was involved with junior, age group and Eisenhour teams. Players to be picked included Danny Lee, Ryan Fox and Lydia Ko as a youngster.

``I spent 13 years as a coach and selector until 2009. I enjoyed the privilege of taking a couple of teams away. One to China for an Aaron Baddeley Invitational with three boys and two girls.

``I also took a team to Houston (in the United States) along with Shelley Duncan for a huge event with two men and two ladies where many future big names played. Thoroughly enjoyed the experiences.”

Hayes decided at age 50 he was ``over playing for toasters’’ and looked to a professional career.

``I felt I had done all I wanted to do as an amateur and it was time to do something for myself so I talked to my wife Margaret.

``We decided I would have a go at the Legends Tour in Australia so at age 58 I put a programme in place to work on my prep and fitness.

``I had a week at The Hills (in Queenstown) before I went to the Q school where 16 players were competing for four cards. I finished third, got my card and playing rights. But I had to play a minimum of 20 tournaments a year and finish top 50 which I had to do for five years to get a lifetime card.”

Hayes got his card and played for 10 years and won nine times in Australia and New Zealand. Some of the players involved were Peter Senior and Ian Baker-Finch and the standard was high.

``At first some players looked at me sideways as if to say who is this and didn’t like me taking prizemoney.

``Once I got to know them friendships formed. In 2016 Margaret and I had a gap year and brought a Land Cruiser and 23-foot caravan and drove around Australia following the tour for 14 months. So we lived and breathed golf and met some wonderful people.

“We got with a group doing the same thing and would stop at golf clubs for a night or two or meet somewhere. We had a wonderful time so it was very hard leaving that and coming back to New Zealand.

``I have to admit I have missed that the last couple of years. I had a shoulder injury in Australia and had an operation. I was told I may not be able to play golf again but fortunately I can.”

Hayes worked for two years as an insurance advisor on his return.

``In 2019 Margaret and I approached the Gleniti Golf Club to see if they were interested in having a pro at the golf shop as they didn’t have one. They thought it was a great idea so we did the catering as well.’'

So after a 10-year hiatus they reopened the club’s pro shop and coaching was available.

At the time the only driving range in Timaru at the showgrounds was closed. Hayes saw the potential and after agreeable discussions the Gleniti club leased the land on which Hayes has built the driving range, café and shop.

Hayes paid for and owns the building. He said it was something of a leap of faith to fund the facility himself.

``When I took the pro job, I thought what else can I do to promote golf and the club. The driving range also gives me a place to coach under cover during the winter months.”

Hayes drew up the plans a little over a year ago but it took longer than he envisaged to get resource consent and get it built. However, as he said: “It has worked out very well. The range needs to be affordable as well as having flexible hours and being open every day.”

Lights have also been erected for the winter evenings with heaters above each of the six hitting bays. The café is open to the public and with no cafes in the vicinity, Hayes expects people in the area will welcome the opportunity to enjoy a coffee and maybe spark an interest in golf.

Hayes, who is full of ideas, added: “My time in Australia gave me plenty of ideas of how to keep a small club going. The only idea I haven’t been able to sell to the club committee is turning the upstairs area of the clubhouse into Airbnb accommodation.

“Hopefully I am setting us up for retirement. Interestingly the Timaru club recently asked me to take over their pro shop and some coaching.”

The reason he took it on was all about succession. Hayes feels if he does it for three years or so he will be ready for retirement and it will be a great opportunity for a young professional to take over a successful lifestyle business with two clubs to look after.

Hayes looks upon Gleniti as a second home having represented it over 40 years. Now having opened the café and driving range it has been the culmination of two and a half challenging, yet very rewarding, years.

Gleniti is a good walk with its undulating terrain but offers spectacular views, from both the course and the clubhouse, of the Canterbury plains, Southern Alps and the sea.

Hayes said it is like two different courses. In summer, because there is no fairway watering, it is hard and fast. In winter, being clay based, it gets heavy and plays much longer.

It is a tight course with boundaries on 10 of the holes either left or right. Out of bounds is often a consideration.

“Gleniti is where I learned to be straight off the tee and become a good short to mid-iron player. I had the course record of 62. Currently my handicap is plus one which is hard work with the amount of golf I’m playing.”

The first hole is a tough one with a hill to clear plus a shot to a raised green which slopes back to front and is not difficult to three-putt.

There are two signature holes. The 17th is a par five. It requires an accurate drive and a good layup as there is a pond on the left. The 18th is a 157-metre par three is slightly uphill with a conifer tree left and a deep bunker right with a sloping green back to front.

There is a lot of character with the rolling conditions and smallish greens and picturesque fairways. Hayes said many who play the course, which is not over-long, for the first time walk off shaking their heads saying what happened there?

This writer can attest to all of that. The course is no pushover and any wayward shots will damage the card.

It has been time well spent with Hayes who is a loyal and inspirational character. For the Gleniti club he is a driving force anyone would want to join for the ride.