By Mathilda Andersson

Much like in Australia, the landscape for golf clubs in New Zealand has drastically changed over the past few years. A declining interest paired with a national surplus of courses means clubs now have to reinvent themselves in order to gain and retain memberships.

Cromwell Golf Course in Central Otago is one example of progressive clubs which has successfully managed to turn the trend of dwindling membership numbers by tailoring club offerings to the local population’s liking – some are even free of charge.

Over the past two years the club membership at Cromwell has increased by around 100 members, which is an upsurge of more than 25% overall.

According to Cromwell Director of Golf and NZ PGA Professional Willie Moore, the influx can partly be traced back to the club’s efforts to cater the membership categories to suit a wider range of people, and especially the introduction of a ‘Casual’ membership (Non-competitive).

“(It) has worked well for people who haven’t got the time to play competition golf, but still want the freedom of no day/time restrictions, which only costs them around a dollar a day,” Moore said.

“We also have a ‘Starter’ membership for people who are new to golf and have never been a member of a golf club before, which has also worked well as it allows them to play competitions…”

In addition, the club also offers reductions on membership for all players under the age of 30 and has introduced a volunteer ‘Membership Coordinator’ – a club representative making contact with new members to ensure they are properly welcomed into the club.

In order to secure the club’s future viability and membership base, Willie Moore, who is also a local resident, offers free coaching to all Cromwell Golf Club Junior members, which has seen a spike in junior membership for the club. To further the engagement of the local community, the club also runs an annual Twilight golf team competition from October through to March, which brings members and non-members together.

“The club sees this as a great way to involve the Cromwell community, giving the public a taste of golf in a fun and cheap way, Moore explained. ”This is very popular especially among local businesses who can enter a team and get together away from their workplace,”

“The popularity of the competition has risen recently, and now we are seeing over 100 players for Twilight golf most Thursday nights. Not bad for a town of 5000 people!”

The club, on initiative of Moore, has also been active in promoting females to take up golf through the NZ Golf initiative ‘She Loves Golf’. The program has managed to create a lot of interest, which has resulted in around 20 new female members for the club.

With five different tee options ranging from 4,500 to 6,500 meters, the course can be enjoyed by beginners all the way through to professionals and is considered one of the best inland links courses in the country, providing a fair test to all levels.

The club completed an extensive $1M course development in 2010-2012 by New Zealand Tour Professional and Course Designer Greg Turner, improving the course by adding more character to the putting greens and a better overall course layout. It boosts a fully serviceable Clubhouse and Pro-Shop located in the centre of the course, a full-length driving range, short-game area and practice putting green.

The club proudly hosted the New Zealand Open final qualifying tournament earlier this year, which saw some of New Zealand’s most talented young amateur golfers tee off on March 6.

Well done to the team at Cromwell for taking some great initiative to grow their business.