Bay of Islands Golf Club in good hands

By Neville Idour

During our time at the Bay of Islands Golf Club in Kerikeri in Northland it was an opportune time to have a chat with the manager for the last three years, Kevin Hughes, and drill down on his background and the progress of the club.

Hughes was born in Auckland and had always lived there apart from two years in Christchurch. 

“We had adopted two Russian children and when they were in the five to ten years' period we wanted them to spend some time with their grandparents. So we spent two years freezing our butts off in Christchurch.” 

Having lived for over 50 years in Christchurch myself I did not challenge him.

Hughes continued: ``A qualified accountant by trade, the opportunity to work here came up. My sister-in-law was a member here and said they may want me as they had financial issues. Originally I worked 10 years for Lion Breweries as an accountant. Following that I managed a manufacturing company in Auckland with 200 staff.”

What about golf?

``As a junior I played at Akarana then it was 30 years at Muriwai. I was chairman of the board there for about three years. The general manager's position came up at Muriwai so I resigned as chairman as I was interested. However I missed out so chairman was my only involvement in golf club management until this position came up. They wanted someone to look after the accounting and all other club processes.”

Was it a major move to make the change after all those years in Auckland?

“It was the first wave of covid and we had the perfect storm of reasons to move. We were getting kicked out of our rental accommodation and it was very hard to find anything to rent. I was running a dental group at that stage and they were only paying me the wage subsidy although I was working seven days a week. So it was an easy decision to make. Here we live in a cottage on site so I can look after security as well.”

How old are your children now? Any golf prodigies? 

“They are 23 and 27 and not golfers although my daughter can play if I can drag her out. She hits a lovely little draw. Pick up a club and hit a draw.”

So tell us what the club’s progress has been since you started?

“The first thing was to sort out the finances as the committee had been strong on tightening the spending as they were struggling financially. However we own the land so are in a very good position in that regard. Three years ago the income was not lasting a full year so there were borrowings and duplication of staffing.” 

In fact there were three or four people doing the work Hughes is doing so efficiently now. Of course they were paying about $10,000 a year for accounting so that is another big saving with Hughes at the helm.

With covid on the scene, the boost in internal travel was a boon for the club. 

“We had a 77 percent increase in green fees in 2021. For the most part that has continued except for when Auckland shut down and we followed.” 

Is membership growing? “We have had about a 10 percent increase.

Are juniors a focus? 

“Yes we are pushing the juniors. We have Monday coaching by Taylor Gill from Waitangi. He was a junior member here and his mum plays here. We are budgeting around $6000 a year for junior coaching. Two local players plus a lady member join Gill and they take four groups with about 16 to 20 attending each Monday.”

Are women a target? “We have a strong but aging women’s membership. The average age would probably be 60 to 65 but we get about 30 to 35 playing every Tuesday. I call the 30 to 50 year olds the lost generation.”

Hughes then offers some very insightful thoughts about attracting new ones to the great game. 

“Young ones, they want to play a nine hole ambrose with their mates. They don’t care if they have only contributed a few shots. They just want to have a bit of fun and dress casually and sometimes want to have music on the back of their carts. 

``We have to find a place in golf for these ones. What we try and do particularly on Sundays is put together all categories that do not fit with the traditional golfer and put them on the other side of the course. So we send one lot off the first tee and the other off 10 or vice versa. That way they they don’t annoy each other.”

The course was in excellent condition when we played it so we asked him about the greenkeeping.

“We have a new greenkeeper Martin Burger who has worked at Whitford Park and then a period at Kauri Cliffs. He then suffered a leg injury that prevented him from greenkeeping for a couple of years so he did a few other things. Then when we had a vacancy a few months ago he put his hand up and I said with that sort of background you are in. He has been brilliant and is a very good golfer as well. He is on a plus one and plays for the Northland Masters team.

“In all, we have two full-time greenkeepers. But there is a lot of work so we do rely on volunteers to tidy and clean up the course . I am expecting the course will continue to improve under their watch.”

Have there been or are there any course changes of significance?

“Not in recent times but there is a plan for a developer who owns land adjacent to the course to buy our course for housing and build a new course on the other side of this one. It is not an official proposal yet and it would take 75 percent of members to vote in favour. Bearing in mind the membership is an older demographic they may think what’s in it for me? So watch this space for the next five years.”

``Another interesting development involves the Quail Ridge housing on the other side of the river relating to waste water dispersement. We have struck a deal with them to disperse their waste water on parts of our golf course, parts that we don’t use, and they pay us for that privilege which could be the case for the next 20 or 30 years. It is another boost for our finances.”

The Bay of Islands Classic is the biggest tournament the club hosts with 250 golfers. Then in September it has the Citrus Classic which features top amateurs. There is a thought to look at a two-day pro-am combining with Waitangi. On that note we conclude, with both Kevin Hughes and the Bay of Islands Golf Club is in very good heart.