Save Miramar Golf Club's existing Front 9…

RISKING IT ALL – 2 years on!!  

I wrote an article back in 2022 and I believe it still holds true today – I called it Risking It All and looking back one of the statements made was “An estimation has been made that we would need a turnover of around $4m to give us a return to look after the MGC about $1.5m – this is a little low and doesn’t count for inflation (but was agreed at the time by our GM)  This would require an approx. turnover of around +$400K per month over 10 months (removing July, August and January at around 40% down due weather and holidays).”

I am still asking – How is that possibly achievable? We’ve gone from a mini putt, a 90 seat restaurant, a 200 meter driving range and a "chip and putt" to the latest First Tee Precinct.   Driving Range: There has been much talked about but nothing put up as viable option. In the meantime, Golf Warehouse have doubled their capacity so the likelihood of anyone from the city coming to a 120m enclosed driving range at the airport is remote.

The demographics do not support a driving range based on the numbers playing golf in the eastern suburbs and the metrics just don’t stack.

The Eastern Suburbs traffic is in gridlock which is a major deterrent with high customer traffic volumes will only be achieved between 9:30am – 2:30pm and after 6:30 windows. During the weekend it is traffic chaos in the Eastern Suburbs and this will only be exacerbated with the planned expansion of the Wellington Airport Retail Park. This will be a major limitation to the success of any enterprise at MGC - the forecast for this time/window is only predicted to get worse.

We have so much wind at Miramar with 166 days where its gusting over 63 km/hr and 24 days where it gusts over 96 km/hr. Building any sort of external structure will have enormous costly, foundation and safety issues.

Pitch & Putt 6 Holes Area: At the expense of losing holes 8 & 9 this is a high-cost folly and is not in the best interest of the majority of members who just have no idea what is happening.   The compression of trying to turn 9 holes into 7 is already failing and a health and safety issue with balls hitting carts and multiple near misses.

We have neighbouring houses being hit and windows being smashed off the new Tees on both holes 5 & 6 (property owners are saying it's is now worse than it’s ever been) we are at huge risk of completely losing that area. The board were advised of the risk of this design by the Facilities Committee 2 years ago but this was ignored. We have to ensure that we preserve 8 & 9 as our fall back position.

The First Tee Precinct: Please tell me how this works?

• Are we not going to lose the clubrooms?
• What’s happening as far as a locker room, lockers, toilets, shower facilities and club storage which are very basic requirements for members and visitors
• Our Conferences provide an annual income of $300k – how do we replace that income?
• With staff at the driving range at one end and bar staff and starter at the other, this does not allow for multifunctioning staff and will require additional staff.
• With a 60 knot southerly in the middle of winter, is the club asking us to sit in a lean-to outside, instead of our full featured clubrooms before and after golf?
• Is the board seriously going to close down our Clubrooms so that they can build a facility for casual visitors in exchange for a shed at the end of the carpark?
• Where is the Business plan for any of the above? Many members who own or have owned businesses and have been involved in hospo are majorly concerned at the future plans and have tried to advise and guide the board, but this has been ignored.

The board are failing in their duty of care and to act in the best interest of the club and all the members. Please do not allow this to continue and pass on these comments to others within the club or have your say...

Ian Goodlet

Miramar Golf Club Governance 

Kia ora koutou,

There have been a few discussions and concerns over the manner in which the Miramar Golf Club is currently governed. The behaviour and attitude demonstrated by the current board members is considered by some to be bringing the club into disrepute.

I am writing the piece to highlight areas of concern that have been discussed with me.

1. A Board member allegedly approached another Board member and advised the Board Member to support the Board's position or any indemnity insurance that Board Member has may be removed.
2. The above-threatened Board member is now subject to a disciplinary hearing around inappropriate behaviour. Bought by compliant members of the Board.
3. The Chairman of the club has failed on numerous occasions to acknowledge and declare a conflict of interest he has with every decision he makes on the club's development. He is a Trustee of the Kiwi Golf Development Foundation, this Foundation will benefit substantially from a par three and driving range at Miramar. These items are the controversial pieces of the “masterplan” to develop the club. Photos on the Foundation website will confirm their association with the Golf Club.
4. Financial reporting and under reporting of decisions is endemic, there is a lack of substantial reporting in a timely manner.
5. Letters of complaint are sent to the Board and in some cases where apologies have been sought they are not given but ignored.
6. The behaviour of the Club General Manager is appalling and continues unabated. This includes ridiculing members, aggressive behaviours towards those who don’t support “his” plan. Manipulation of staff, this is clearly evident through a complaint made against a member for comments made in a local pub. Behaviour expectations and rules 48 to 50 are applicable to all members of the club, the Board seem to be immune from both the expectations and rules. The principles of good governance including accountability rule of law and transparency are missing from the club.

These are some of the concerns members have spoken to me about and have asked if I could highlight, I have some first hand knowledge of some but not all of these allegations

Mike Hinton

Clubhouse Development

Hello Evan,

It has been on my mind for the last month when you sent an update of where things are at with the Course and Clubhouse Development and since your poor response to the Feedback on the 1st Tee Precinct last week I thought it prudent to get on to this namely the Clubhouse.

Seismic Restrengthening of the Clubhouse.

While I was Project Manager of the intended works, I engaged CHP Engineers to do a full structural assessment of the Clubhouse and received their initial report in October 2022.

As you know the building at that time was rated at ~45% NBS, based on the lowest structural element found within the building at that time, however the report still needed some further investigation on how the Dycore concrete first floor slabs were supported by the concrete walls below. CHP were again engaged to do this however as you know my role as PM had finished so I did not know what this report findings were.

My understanding is that this was completed, and the Board made aware of the findings early 2023 and since your Newsletter, over a year after, let us all know for the first time that the building rating came in at ~15% NBS I was shocked that nothing had been done about this or members made aware of this earlier. As you know, after mentioning it within your update, any building under 34% NBS is usually Red Stickered, so where are we at with this?

If this has been delayed due to your endeavours to sell the Clubhouse to WIAL this too seems very risky and probably one reason why they haven’t been showing interest?

Having been involved with this type of work before it was often the case that the Dycore was not supported well enough by the walls and when I saw the cutouts done early last year I would not have been surprised by these findings however I also know that this is easily remedied usually by installing steel angles at regular intervals around the slab edges and bolt fixed to walls.

I also remember that the Budget for this work was around $50k (discussed at Delottes from memory?) which to me was hugely underpriced however it is not difficult to do this work so even if it cost say $300 - $400k I would see this as being a far better spend than demolition, as seems to be suggested in your Newsletter? Also, it would probably only take 3 – 4 months to have done this work so we’d be in a much safer facility than we are now!

I trust that you or someone has taken these findings to WCC for their awareness, and I know that it is up to the landlord whether to register these findings so has anything along these lines been done?

In terms of your other comments on the Clubhouse:

• Yes extensive repair work is required along with solutions to stop water ingress, we knew this back in the Facilities Team era
• The clubhouse footprint is not huge if we still want Conference Facilities if we don’t then some good planning using the current Clubhouse could work around a possible Driving Range incorporation.
• The clubhouse could be at the start of the course if the old holes 8 & 9 are maintained. This looks like a typical no other possibility approach that you still think Members don’t see??
• Why are you calling the driving range an off-course activity? It will still be on MGC land won’t it?? Anyway, I look forward to your delivery on the Business Case for a Driving Range!!
• As for the 1st Tee Precinct you saw my response to the questionnaire.

The fact that this was put out a month before any details of the facility was shown led to a poor response (some people I spoke to didn’t even see the link) and an interpretation that has no merit!

Nga Mihi,

T o n y   S h o r t
T S  C o n s u l t i n g

Transcript of email sent to Miramar Golf Club: Re MGC Newsletter 30/06/2024 - 1st Tee Precinct - Conceptual Design

Dear author of this newsletter,

To suggest the negative comments offered nothing is a blatant slight on the members who took the time to respond in good faith. Because they disagree with your masterplan and possibly can see the propaganda and deflections common to your newsletter this does not devalue their opinion.

These are members of the club it is their club and as such are owed an apology. I would like formally complain about the newsletter and would expect an immediate apology issued to those members.

Mirmar Golf Club - Special General Meeting Request

16 October 2023

Miramar Golf Club

Attention: General Manager – Doug Pollock

Kia Ora Doug,

Miramar Golf Club Special General Meeting

I am writing this based on not receiving any fundamental, practical, or honest responses to the many questions that I and members of this club have requested, and registered their names on the Petition you are aware of, as well as those that have not, by yourself or the Board.

Therefore, I am calling for a Special General Meeting to be held prior to the year ending AGM and within the next Month.

To remind you of the questions raised they fall into five simple fields being Costings, Programme, Course Layout, Clubhouse Layout, Airport dealings, and the intention of having access to other Courses for Members and Interclub.

Costings

• Provide a detailed breakdown of the Consultants Fees spent to date and what is expected and budgeted for in the future.
• Provide a detailed breakdown of the Quotes now received for the initial works expected to be carried out in the next couple of months ie Course Irrigation and Course Alterations.
• Provide Estimates to date for the Proposed Clubhouse Alterations, Driving Range, Par 3 Course and all new course features, including Professional Fees etc.
• Based on these costs provide detailed Business cases for each facility.

Confirm exactly the status of the shares invested with Forsyth Barr what has been withdrawn, how it has been applied, and why?

Programme

• It has become evident that the dates you provided in the email sent to Members on Wednesday 27 September is incorrect, ie 9th Aug GWRC & 11th Aug WCC, as WCC have confirmed that Resource Consent (RC) was not applied for until 22 August and this was to GWRC not WCC. As of 9 October WCC confirmed that RC had not been approved and that once this is done, they will require a Building Consent (BC) application to WCC, which will take another 20 working days minimum for approval.
• Should BC not be approved until the end of October early November how will this affect the actions received in your 27 September email and will it influence the grass growing season or interclub programming?

Course Layout

• Based on the plans provided to GWRC for RC it indicates a different temporary Course Layout than has been presented previously so what is the Clubs true intensions for this?
• Also based on the plans provided for RC it indicates the full overall design of the Course including a reduced 9 holes, Driving Range, Par 3 Course, larger putting green, chipping green and two lakes. Given that the latest SGM and presentations either did not mention the Par 3 Course or that the Driving Range had not been confirmed if there were to be changes what would that mean to the progress of the intended works indicated?
• Ian Goodlet provided reasons and plans for not changing the direction of the current 2nd hole and provided feedback from the previous Course Designer Alex Glascow who had looked at the feasibility of this when the Facilities Team was in action, and he was employed. Confirm why you are not looking at providing studies as to why you believe this is necessary?
• There were great reasons for including an extra two holes within the Front 9 particularly that they would be there when other greens on the course required rest and maintenance. Given the layouts provided in the RC Application remove current holes 8 and 9 defeats this purpose, is this correct and what is the intention?

Clubhouse Layout

• Based on the Clubhouse Layout provided within the RC Application it still shows areas that were indicated to members will not be there eventually like the Virtual Bays on Level 2 so where is the latest layout at now?
• Given these plans still indicate the Outdoor Café Area, is this the main reason for removing the current 9th hole from the Course?
• Has there been a full business plan put together for the Proposed Driving Range? The general feel I have received is that most Members will use it from time to time however don’t want to spend $8M on a 120m Range if it is not viable. Provide evidence that this is feasible.
• If the Driving Range is seen as feasible and possibly very successful has there been any negotiations with WIAL in terms of Carparking and Access?

Airport Status

• Where are MGC at with the possible sale of the Clubhouse and Carparking to WIAL?
• If WIAL were to purchase these how can Members be assured that they will not suffer for this and has the Board investigated the likely ramifications of this from a business perspective?
• With the once Proposed WETA Adventure Golf not shown on the RC plans are WIAL looking to include the land set aside for this in their purchase?

Other Club Progress

• It has been the intention for the last couple of years that MGC deals with other local clubs allowing our members access onto these courses. It was good to receive the progress on Friday 13th October of the deal with Wainuiomata however where are we at with other Clubs?

In calling for this Special General Meeting I have been made aware that this requires 30 Full Playing MGC Members to agree therefore find attached confirmation from Members that want this SGM to occur so far and we are awaiting others that are overseas or have only just received the form but as you will see we are already more than the 30 No. required.

As you are aware the Petition received over 80 petitioners, and these are the first people we obtained their respective support in getting this through, so I call on behalf of the Members confirmed, and all others, that an SGM be held within the next Month and that fully supported, detailed and honest answers are provided by yourself and the Board. Under Rule 28 of the Clubs Incorporated Rules the GM has 14 days to issue a SGM Notice of Meeting.

Nga Mihi,

This will also be posted to Miramar Golf Republic Website 

Open Letter To MGC Board From Mike Hinton - Urgent Concerns and Questions Regarding MGC Transition

Copy of Letter to the Chairman of the Miramar Golf Club - Evan Bayly

22 August 2023

Kia ora koutou,

I haven't sent anything since the farce, of an SGM as I wanted to reflect and consider all responses first.

The Board and Management of the Miramar Golf Club should all reflect on the professional delivery and consistency when presenting information and advising members of the state of our club, and the options available that have been investigated as we downsize to a 9-hole golf course, particularly as this has been worked on for over two years now.

What stands out to me, given my experience in the management of various businesses these last few decades, is that this could be read as misinformation, straight out lies and/or misdirection.

There have been several reasons for this, and I would like to highlight just a few being:

The latest Newsletter received Friday 18th August:

At the members information evening in June, the possibility of a full playing subscription of $996 was suggested with other already discounted, member categories like U30 and Senior Active staying at the rates those categories paid last year.  After feedback from members within those categories, the Board's decision was to extrapolate the savings across the varying membership categories.  The 2-year subscription offer equates to an annual sub of only $917.50 over the two years.

The notice infers it has feedback from two categories of membership, under 30 and senior active and from these two categories it was decided to extrapolate savings across all the members categories. That on its own is really an extraordinary tiny sampling of the membership to make such a decision. My understanding, and I may be corrected, is that there was less than 7 members of the under 30 category that met with the board. Did any of the petitioners get the opportunity to speak to the Board on membership fees? Please let me know if you did.

The Club has raised a flyer for the neighbours, I will ensure this is included in the next email, it has some interesting points.

The re-routing of 2 and 5 due to ball escape in some opinions has been a contrived and inaccurate assessment of an issue that has been exacerbated by the club. The lowering and moving of the tees have impacted on the issue by reducing ball escape, that should have been enough, however if we consider previous timeframes neighbours had to wait for any issue to be rectified and current timeframes waiting for issues to be addressed it is no wonder our neighbours are annoyed.

If any one of the petitioners can make any sense out of the club financials, can you please inform me and other petitioners of where you believe we sit as I find it extremely difficult to make sense out of the figures provided. Quick example, in one newsletter we were advised we are going to have a forecasted cash shortfall of $1.8 million how and why?

I could add so much more like how the contracts to the various Consultants and Contractors have been dealt with or a more developed breakdown of costs for the works being progressed prior to the SGM, that were asked for when I, along with Charles Purcell and Tony Short met with Evan, Doug and Deloitte’s but these were never received.

The manipulations that have been evident in the last Voting’s tells me that there is more to come when we decide if we should sell the Social, Conference and Carparking Assets to WIAL, as has been mentioned, as these will undoubtably include the Driving Range and Par 3 Options and require the existing holes 8 & 9 to be lost and why no irrigation system is planned in the upcoming works.

Unfortunately, my personal feeling now is that I am not comfortable that the Board has the experience or knowledge necessary to ensure a realistic and professional future for this Club that I have been honoured to have been a member of, until recently.

Noho ora mai

Notice to petitioners - Miramar Golf Club SGM Summary

Kia ora koutou,

This is a brief overview of what my impressions of what the SGM was like and the potential consequences.

I would first like to give a brief bio of who I am and why I am pursuing this.

My name is Mike Hinton and I am of Ngati Raukawa descent I was born in Christchurch and are married with a blended family of 5.

I have spent 20 years in the military, worked overseas in a helicopter logging organisation, Ops Manager for Manukau Urban Maori Authority 17 years, been the GM for Restorative Practices Aotearoa 10+ years and am currently the CE of a Social Service Agency with more than 60 staff. My work history explains some of my understanding of people, finance and the application of the principles of tika and pono in all that I do.

To date the communication and hui held regarding the conversion of the golf course and the evolution of the club with the impending loss of the back nine I consider to have been mis-leading, confusing, incomplete and divisive. The meeting held on Monday the 7th at the club was a continuance of the same delivery style chaotic and unstructured with many distractions.

You will be aware of the results of the two motions as highlighted in the club’s email of 10th August 2023.

1.     Upgrade and enhancement of the 9 holes we own

2.     Allow members to return a postal ballot by email         

Both motions were passed and we move forward.

The petition has and continues to seek clarity and consistency from the Board and Management of the club to ensure we as members are fully informed of what is going on with the club in terms of development of the course and future direction of the club as an entity.  So we are able to make informed decisions.

The SGM was filled with distractions and information that detracted from why we were there and created more confusion for many of the members.

A couple of these as examples are as follows:

1.     The club president advising members that fees for next year, that will be set in a couple of weeks, may by $1800 or even higher but this may be with a subscription free year the following year. Contrary to the information presented at ST Pats earlier this year. They may also not be set at this price, who knows? 2.     When asked if there was an option or plan B on what the clubs plans were at the moment, we were told there is no plan B. Very concerning that there appears to be little or no investigation into other options the club can look at moving forward. Prior preparation and planning are essential.
3.     Diagrams presented to the members highlighted a part of the course that we were told would not be a part of the irrigation upgrade. This was our current hole 8 and 9. No reason to why this area was excluded.
4.     The financial papers presented to date have not encouraged me in anyway as to the scrutiny or diligence that may have been applied to them by the Board or management. They would in my opinion never meet the standards of a simple annual audit presented to members.

I am continuing with the petition for a couple of reasons.

1.     Being honest and truthful are important values that I place on organisations, individuals and entities that I am involved with or have business dealings with. I have been engaged in transactions of this size and above that required scrutiny and diligence applied to them. My belief in this matter is simple, I believe we have not been told the whole story or advised of all the detail or at least at a level that allows members to be able to make informed decisions. The withholding of information and being sparse with the truth is not honest.
2.     We are constantly advised of the legacy and history of the club, and it is a long proud history that we have. However that history means little if the club is not operating in a few years. The financial mis-management and under reporting on financial matters would indicate to me we have less than 8 years left if we continue to spend and lose money at the current rate.
3.     I have been involved in Iwi and government relationships for many years, I have seen and heard many plans presentations and ideas that were completely fabricated, the clubs presentations to date have that same feel. 

We have a huge task ahead and that is to ensure the financial viability of the club is not wasted on ideas that have not been researched and evaluated by individuals with no connection or benefit to the ideas or plans presented.

There are club members that are of the same opinion as mine and I intend to support the club as we move forward in the future. This may require standing for the Board, generating our own SGM’s, constantly seeking the truth and continually questioning our Board on the plans and direction of the club.

They are going to in my opinion waste a significant amount of money re-jigging the front nine. We have had that vote and it was passed. This is a bit like reorganising the deck chairs on the Titanic.

We need to ensure any funding beyond what has been asked in the front 9 reorganisation is not released. The limited funds we will get from the airport in different tranches will be the only funds available to ensure the club has any sort of future at all. We cannot let these be squandered on half-baked ideas covered in fairy dust.

I look forward to your support and appreciate and suggestions or ideas you may have and are willing to share.

Noho ora mai

Ball Escape 2nd Hole

Hi Everyone

It is important that we all understand the argument around ball escape on the 2nd hole and what we could do to mitigate what’s happening.

• The Facilities committee recommended to the Board 2 years ago, a shoot restricting what shot can be played with a lowered back Tee block. This would take away the option of the high draw shot and the big slice, from many right handers as has already been proven by the use over the lower tees for the last couple of months.
• An improved landing area completely taking out the first grass bunker and resculpturing the hill area.
• Introducing a number of sand or grass bunkers along the tree line, in the major second and third-shot-hitting zones will significantly improve the ball escape in these areas. Review where we need to replace and introduce new screens.
• Now that the trees have overgrown, some of them rendering them redundant.

The facilities committee were also majorly concerned that reversing 2 and 5 would enable big left-handed slicers and big right-handed hookers of the ball, to hit a golf ball in southerly conditions over the trees would introduce even more ball escape to the residents along the boundary who had never experienced it before.

There is an historical argument with regard to infill housing along the 2nd boundary and as the golf club was here first, the infill housing has magnified the problem. If we make the changes proposed ie change the directions of 2 & 5, we risk having made the change pushing ourselves into a corner where we have no options left.

We need to learn from the lessons of Chamberlain Park, where they had to close 3 holes in 2021 and manage the concerns of the neighbours. This is something which we have not been doing recently and has a number of neighbours pretty upset.

Changing the direction should be the last option not the first!

Nga Mihi,

LET'S GET MIRAMAR MOVING  

Morena Evan 

We have asked for some time now for a detailed breakdown of the $4.064m.

But what you provided yesterday which split out the $4.064m was a summary of costs that did not provide the detail requested. The amount of professional fees seems excessive and consent costs seems inordinately high.

1. Can you please advise what these fees are for and why they are excessive?  

We have been given no indication as to the level of disruption to the course and the playing of golf.

2. What levels of disruption do the Board anticipate and when can the members expect this to happen?

We have been advised separately that the Forsyth Barr funds will be drawn down to meet payments as they fall due. There has been no mention of that in any communication from the Board prior.

3. Will any of the Forsyth Barr funds be drawn down to meet payments? What levels of approval are needed for this to happen?

We want things to happen promptly and believe that the reshaping (with all those costs involved) of the front nine is unnecessary.

4. If the motion is rejected by the members on Monday, what is your alternative plan and would the board consider leaving the front nine intact as it is? 

I believe that most of the members would vote for a resolution that:

• Essentially leaves the existing front nine intact and excludes the proposed Par 3 course and outdoor café area;
• Provides for a two-tee option on each hole;
• Provides for two temporary greens (at little cost) to enable 18 holes to be played for the period up to 31 August 2024 or when WIAL take possession of the entire back nine on 1 January 2025;
• Leaves the existing 2nd and 5th holes in their existing direction and resolve the ball escape by other means which are available;
• Provides for water storage and pump house on the MGC remaining land;
• Utilises as much of the existing irrigation piping that remains in good condition as inspected and confirmed by Peter Grant from Parkland;
• The Course Upgrade & Redevelopment costs less than the $4.064m as currently indicated.   For that reason, I will vote against the existing proposed redevelopment. I would fully support something simpler and with less disruption.  

Many petitioners that I have spoken to are not opposed to the construction of a driving range and clubhouse extensions however this will again be determined once more detailed business cases are presented.

I have added this to the comments in the "Save Miramar Golf Club's existing Front 9..." petition https://www.petitions.nz/save_miramar_golf_clubs_existing_front_9
and am now asking that the Board answers the four questions and responds via email to all MGC members before 5pm Friday the 4th August. This is to ensure we all know what is being voted for this Monday night and is a fair and reasonable request.

Nga Mihi,

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