New Members
A big welcome to the considerable number of new members who have recently joined the Club. I hope you enjoy our course, meet our members and experience everything else the club has to offer.
Course Availability
We have received some queries around tournaments and closure of the course to the membership. To clarify for members I wish to outline the current situation.
In 2019 the course access will be closed or limited, depending on the event.
| Coring | Feb 11-13 Sep 30 - Oct 1 | Monday-Wednesday 4 days |
| Charity Tournaments | Mar 23, Sep 13, Oct 4 & Nov 1 | Friday/Saturday 4 days |
| NZ Golf NZ Seniors | Feb 7-10 | Thursday-Sunday 4 days |
| NZ Golf Men's Toro Interprovincial | Nov 25-30 | Monday-Saturday 6 days |
| Corporate Sponsor | Apr 10 | Wednesday pm 0.5 day |
| Promotion Based | Oct 12 & Nov 4 | Monday/Saturday 1.5 days |
8.5 of these days have already occurred.
Coring is obviously a necessity but does affect Monday-Wednesday golfers.
With the charity tournaments, Hastings members are welcome to enter and in fact are the major supporters of these events. Traditionally we have supported Malaghan Institute, Dementia & Cranford Hospice via Karamu Rotary for many years.
Last year the Ronald McDonald Member Guest Tournament was added as a replacement for the Hastings Pro-am 3 day event. Along with members and visitors from Auckland through to Masterton, very importantly we have raised over $33,000 for local Hawke’s Bay families in their moment of need, something to be proud of. Two new members joined us this year as a result of enjoying the Member Guest so much.
As a club we like to support NZ Golf tournaments and many members will remember the annual Under 23 tournaments held here for years. We currently sit on a rotational basis for the tournaments these days as NZG like to distribute these throughout the country.
The Interprovincial just happens to be in Hawke’s Bay this year, men at Hastings and women at Napier. It is unlikely to be held here again for many years. We will be discussing with Napier the possibility of a reciprocity arrangement at no cost to our respective members during these tournaments.
The NZ Seniors, from our point of view, has been far and away the most successful NZ Golf tournament we have hosted. With 187 entries from within NZ and overseas these participants whole heartedly supported the food & beverage offerings. I suggest this is an ideal target market to spread the word about what Hastings Golf Club has to offer. We have already seen repeat visits from tournament participants with their friends/spouses.
The promotion of our club is fundamental for our on-going marketing and visitor rounds. The Hawke’s Bay 4-Course Golf & Wine and Man’s Day Out tournaments sit within the scope of promotion. The Hawke’s Bay 4-Course Golf & Wine sees 100 players from NZ and international (mostly Australia) which with assistance from HB Tourism promotes HB as a golf destination in conjunction with other HB clubs.
The Man’s Day Out, which members play in is popular for the 30-45yo age group and potential future members.
All these tournaments have a vital role in promoting the club to the golfing community, word of mouth advertising and Fairways Café/Bar see significant income from these events.
Days effected
Many members like to play on certain days of the week and consequently we try to spread the events across the membership as broadly as possible.
In 2019 the days effected compared to next year are:
| | 2019 | 2020 |
| Monday | 4 | 3 |
| Tuesday | 3 | 2 |
| Wednesday | 2.5 | 1.5 |
| Thursday | 2 | 0 |
| Friday | 5 | 3 |
| Saturday | 3.5 | 1.5 |
| Sunday | 1 | 0 |
The removal of the Interprovincial and NZ Seniors which are rotational will reduce closures by ten days in 2020.
Tournaments and closures will affect members to a greater or lesser degree, I can assure you we are aware of this and have turned down requests to hold events.
In summary
We do appreciate the needs of members’ access to the course whilst balancing this against supporting our community, the income created, beneficial effect on club finances and promotion of HGC.
There is no perfect way to spread the load but I hope we have the balance about right.
Cart Shed Extension
The extension to the cart shed will be completed shortly. Thank you for the support of those members who have enabled this to happen.
Two spots remain available for future demand.
Member Benefits
To our new members (and existing members) a 10% discount is available to everyone who uses their membership card for purchases at Fairways.
This system allows us to charge our increasing number of visitor’s comparable market rates whilst giving our members a better deal if they wish to take advantage of it. We much prefer to subsidise members rather than visitors paying cheaper member rates at POS.
The significant improvements made to the food & beverage offerings and work of Kieran and our team is often commented on positively by visitors and members, please enjoy.
To make use of the member benefit, funds can be deposited onto your membership card directly at the bar or cafe. 10% will be automatically be added via DotGolf for deposits of $50 and then $100 increments i.e. $100, $200 etc.
Peter Clayton
President