Arrowtown Golf Club is embarking on a $350,000 redevelopment aimed at giving members and visitors a better experience while staying true to its “local flavour”. Work will begin next month on what general manager Peter Scutts describes as the “logical next step” after major investment in its clubhouse and course irrigation over the past few years. The project will add four covered driving bays, improve the practice chipping and pitching areas, create a spare par-3 hole for use during course maintenance, expand and reconfigure the car park and extend cart paths to improve safety around the clubhouse. Scutts says better practice facilities topped members’ wish lists in a recent survey. “It wasn’t a surprise to us — the overwhelming feedback was improved practice facilities.” The club’s already spent about $1.5 million replacing its ageing irrigation system and up to $800,000 refurbishing the clubhouse, including new bathrooms, furniture and an outdoor terrace. About 80% of its revenue comes from visitors, many of whom expect warm-up facilities commonly found at leading golf courses, he says. “People want to hit drivers into a net, practise their chipping and get a feel for the speed of the greens before they play.” The redevelopment’s expected to take about 2 years, and will be staged to minimise disruption for members and visitors. Despite the investment, the club has no ambition to become another luxury golf resort, he says. “We want to keep the local flavour.” — GUY WILLIAMS
