Hedgehope Golf Club vice-president Grant Butler said with a membership of 58, the 56-year-old golf club, which boasts views of the Hokonui Hills, needed its community to save it from closing down.
He said a tired looking clubhouse, irregular use of the golf course and a lack of helpers for its maintenance had made a meeting about the club’s future necessary.
But at the meeting, on October 29, a decision about the potential closure of the club was deferred.
Instead, the committee wanted to get the message out there that the members should "use it or lose it".
"They didn’t want to close the club.
"All these people came out of the woodwork going, ‘If, I had known that, I would have done it [used the golf club]’."
A sub-committee had since been created to form an action plan.
Mr Butler said there had been some good news since the meeting.
"We had a new membership application as recently as yesterday.
"We’ve had three people step up and take on mowing roles, be that on fairways ... or the rough.
"That’s lightening the pressure of the people who have been doing that for a long time," Mr Butler said.
He hoped the club’s regular initiatives such as a March tournament, and the local school using the club would increase engagement at the golf course.
"A local citizen, Bill Stafford, donated 10 acres [4.4ha] of land to us a number of years ago.
We’re hoping to brand that March tournament the Bill Stafford Tournament.
The local school has again contacted us and asked if they could use the course for their annual fundraiser, which we’ve agreed to,"Mr Butler said.
Initiating a Thursday night two-person Ambrose twilight competition was also on the cards.
He thanked the Southland District Council, Community Trust of Southland and the Aotearoa Gaming Trust for providing funding towards the club’s projects.
