Glenorchy grateful to help from The Hills

Damian Orman, the president of the Glenorchy Golf Club near Queenstown, is extremely grateful to The Hills Golf Club for it's generous assistance in restoring it's ailing greens to a quality matching the best.

Orman explained that their mower was going to need repairs costing about $6000 which the club simply did not have. Subscriptions only contribute around $2600 to the club’s finances. The repairers said The Hills and Millbrook had the necessary sharpeners so it may be best to talk to them as repairs would have to be done in Christchurch otherwise, meaning expensive freight to pay.

Orman said the club survives on sponsorships, donations and volunteers and green fees are just $10. So Orman enquired at The Hills who were keen to assist a local club and was introduced to trainee greenkeeper Innes  Kensington who would do the required work.

Kensington takes up the story: “Ben Taylor (The Hills course superintendant}, who was aware of their situation, and I, met with Damian and formulated a plan to use our machinery to do the renovations. 

``So we took our greens' machine and tractor on a trailer to Glenorchy to run our greens programme there. The greens were in a sorry state.” 

They needed a complete revamp including sanding and re-seeding. Two 12-hour days were involved plus a couple of return visits. Kensington also has tried to fix the irrigation, which hadn’t been used for about 10 years, “with varying degrees of success”.

He also fixed the reels on their mower which was the original job and the mower now looks fantastic. 

“We will probably go back in March next year and do another round of sanding to build on what I have done.”

Will Glenorchy be able to look after them?

 “They have a couple of volunteers who can mow the greens now. I also went over and took some of our old flagposts and cups which were in very good condition to replace their inadequate ones.”

Interestingly, Kensington who was previously a guide on the Routeburn Track in Fiordland, is in the third and final year of his traineeship and intends keeping an eye on the Glenorchy course as he does not want to see the level of the work done fall away. He has given them a programme to follow to maintain that work.

Once word got out about the work families came out to see the action and enjoy time playing on the course. There is no doubt the new greens and improved course maintenance will produce a much more enjoyable experience for golfers. — By Neville Idour.