Industry News
Wairakei golf + sanctuary officially opened
More than 150 invited guests
attended a dawn ceremony at
Wairakei, near Taupo on March 11
to mark the opening of a unique
sanctuary within the confines
of the privately owned 18-hole
Wairakei Golf Course.
A feature of the ceremony was the
blessing and unveiling of a nine metre
high Pouwhenua (Maori caring) at the
entrance to the golf course. The official opening of the ‘Wairakei golf +
sanctuary’ was timed to co-incide with
the NZPGA senior championship being
held during that time. Physical work
on the multi-million dollar sanctuary
project got underway 18 months ago
with construction of a two metre high
predator fence around the perimeter of
the 180 ha property. The five kilometre
long Xcluder fence is designed to keep
out predators like rats, mice, stoats,
weasels, hedgehogs, feral cats and
possums. The golf + sanctuary project
is believed to be the only one of its
kind in the southern hemisphere.
Around 25,000 native trees and five
thousand exotics have been planted
to encourage bird life and further
enhance the park like surroundings.
Two hundred mixed colour pheasant
have also been released on to the golf
course property.
A small herd of around 15 fallow deer
and a stag are being reared within a
deer fenced area. Discussions are also
underway with conservation agencies
regarding the eventual release of some
endangered species – like kiwi and
brown teal.
Wairakei golf + sanctuary owner,
Auckland businessman Gary Lane
told guests that the sanctuary project
had been a “labour of love” that was
inspired by an article he had read that
said 90% of ground breeding birds
were likely to be killed by stoats, weasels and other predators.
He said Wairakei was “an iconic piece
of land” and the vision was to try and
preserve the environment for the
future.
Jacklin keynote at Asia conference
The staging machinery for the 2011
Asia Pacific Golf Summit (APGS) has
kicked into gear and the organisers
have announced that legendary British superstar golfer Tony Jacklin has
signed up to be a keynote speaker.
Managing Director of Asia Pacific Golf
Development Conferences, the owner
and producer of APGS.
Jacklin’s golfing brilliance revitalized
British and ultimately European golf
with his remarkable exploits. For four
seasons - from 1969 to 1972 - there
was no brighter star in golf’s firmament than Tony Jacklin.
At the age of 26, he broke all performance records in the history of British
golf. In doing so, he simply did for
British golf what Arnold Palmer did for
golf in America. “We are absolutely
delighted to have a star of Jacklin’s
reputation headline the 2011 Asia Pacific Golf Summit and we are especially
happy to bring out Tony to share with
Asia his unique philosophy relating
to how golf should be played today
and his revolutionary ideas about golf
course design,” said Mike Sebastian,
When Jacklin won the Open in 1969
and the US Open in 1970, he became
a national celebrity in the United
Kingdom. He was the first person to
hold both titles simultaneously. Furthermore no British player had won
the US Open in over 70 years. For
these accomplishments and his role in
breathing life back into the Ryder Cup,
Jacklin was elected to the World Golf
Hall of Fame.
APGS 2011 will be staged at the
Thailand resort city of Pattaya from
October 31 to November 6 2011.
Golf Industry Central Autumn 2011
5