Muriwai manager has achieved much in recent years

A commitment to establishing a small coastal community’s golf club as the hub of social activity - combined with creating one of the best ecologically-friendly recreational destinations in New Zealand – has earned the club’s general manager a national award.

Muriwai Golf Club general manager Andrew Jackson won the club manager of the year accolade at the Golf New Zealand awards presented recently, for his efforts in leading the Auckland venue into an unprecedented new era of community involvement and financial prosperity.

Jackson has been Muriwai Golf Club’s general manager for 5-1/2 years. In that time the club’s turnover has grown three-fold.

Under Jackson and the club’s board stewardship, the club structures its week-to-week operations on the principals of a five-year strategic plan. The club’s current success has been built on implementing a range of initiatives – including:

 *       Positioning the course and its clubhouse infrastructure as a social hub for everyone in Muriwai

 *      Making golf attractive to as wide a playing pool as possible by embracing more women and children onto the course

 *      Introducing a comprehensive range of environmental protection and enhancement programmes to grow and nurture native flora and fauna species

and

  *      Taking a business-focussed approach to the course’s activities, including commercial partnerships.

 

Positioning itself to be the social and focal hub of the tight-knit Muriwai community north-west of Auckland, the golf club is now offering food and beverage services under a club licence – similar to an RSA (Returned Services' Association). In parallel with extending the food and beverage menus, Muriwai Golf Club’s clubhouse is about to undergo the second phase of a major refurbishment programme.

The first phase of this programme, completed 18-months ago, saw the clubhouse ground floor completely remodelled – including the addition of new women’s changing room and bathroom amenities, a new pro shop, a new ground floor entrance foyer, building structural strengthening, and the creation of a sprig bar with outdoor seating, plus a complete new septic system and treatment plant.

The total cost was high, just on the $1 million mark, but the return on investment has been immediate – with the opening of the more causal sprig bar adding an additional $60,000 in liquor sales to the club’s bar revenues, $26,000 to the café, plus pro’ shop equipment and apparel sales increasing by $300,000 in the current financial year.

Part of the credit for increasing beverage revenues at the club has been Jackson’s preference for New Zealand craft beers – particularly local brands Liberty, and Hallertau - which all regularly outsell the bigger international brands.

That tap pouring loyalty to locally-owned craft breweries has also seen two of the Kiwi beer labels becoming intricately linked to the club’s sponsorship activities – with one committing to signage on four carts, and another, not wanting to be outdone, taking on signage on eight carts. 

Cementing a win-win scenario for all parties, indeed Liberty now sponsor the club’s pennant teams, plus the Muriwai Open pro-am. In parallel, multiple wine companies in the nearby Kumeu and Huapai locales also enjoy sponsorship exposure including the Hunting Lodge, which is the major sponsor for the club’s Sundowner Twilight Series.

With that infrastructure operational, phase two of Muriwai Golf Club’s clubhouse redevelopment will see the upper-level deck substantially extended up to the putting green, and the interior décor completely modernised to reflect a stylish seaside hospitality venue – funding dependant of course.

Jackson anticipates the revamped clubhouse with its spectacular golf course and sea views will become a sought-after wedding venue for the nearby greater Auckland catchment populous – utilising an existing natural elevated sand dune platform for ceremonies, and with guests able to take advantage of golf carts for transportation to the beach.

Jackson and the team of volunteers at Muriwai Golf Club have all been early adopters of Golf New Zealand’s pest eradication programme recommendations. One year into the initiative, the club operates 90 pest traps around its holes – catching 700 possums and rats so far. This has seen the club’s pheasant population treble. Likewise, Muriwai’s quail breeding stocks are growing, and numbers of protected species oyster catcher, dotterel, and herons are also on the rise.

The local primary school will utilise Muriwai Golf Club for its enviroment curriculum – involved with bird counting and tree planting initiatives in conjunction with the Department of Conservation. 

Meanwhile, a recent community open night at the club – featuring a presentation from the Department of Conservation on the club’s pest trapping and eradication programme – attracted 75 Muriwai residents, 15 of whom signed up on the night to become social members affiliated with the club.

The club has a membership of 1060 players – including 160 women, a 75 percent increase in this demographic in just two-years. Jackson regularly hosts she love golf events – such as a recent six-hole ambrose event which saw 44 females taking to the fairways before a complimentary bubbles and giggles prizegiving.

Before the ambrose event, 25 of the women picked up tips from the club’s professional Gary Parkinson and pro shop staff on the driving range – with many participants now feeling confident enough to sign up for the club’s summer twilight series.

Auckland’s abysmally wet winter this year has also been a boom for Muriwai - with its sand-based links allowing for play regardless of how much rain came down the day before. In August, the course – which promotes itself as a year-round playable links - generated $77,000 in green fees alone in August, with an additional $15,000 from cart hire.