Hanmer Springs Golf Club

Presidents Address to the AGM – 19 September 2026

Hello Members

The year ending 30 June 2026 was another very good year for the Club. Almost all of our targets were met or exceeded. These have been covered on Page 4 of the Performance Report.

1          Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like thank our staff for the amazing job that they have done for us, both individually and as a team over the year in review (and since balance date). We are really very fortunate to have them managing our Club.

I repeat my comments made last year that our office and bar always run smoothly, our finances are very carefully managed, our members and guests are always made to feel welcome, our golfing programme is always interesting and varied, our tournaments are well run and our course is always well presented.

Thank you to David, Mike, Marc, Steve and Neil.

We welcomed Marc Kelly to the team early in the new year and he has settled in well with a great rapport with members and visitors. His appointment gave us much better coverage for holidays and sickness, at tournaments and on Saturdays.

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Thank you too to all of our enthusiastic volunteers.

My personal thanks, and I am sure yours too, go to the Committee for a job well done. The Committee members were (Ken, Greg, Sandra, Steve (Gill), Richie, Mike (Gainsford) and Boio (until her resignation in March when her new role on the Community Board took priority over her available time).

It has been great to work alongside this team for a second year because they are always very dedicated and always willing to help. They sure get things done!

Our thanks to Dad’s Army who are effectively our 3^rd greenkeeper. Regular members are Ken, Greg, Ali, Glen, Marty, Howard and Mike (Hill). They empty rubbish bins, do dump runs, gravel the paths, keep hedges and gardens tidy, split and chip wood from felled trees, ”weed-whack” long grass, and do any other tasks that need doing.

The DA team have been beset with illness or body repairs in recent months but thankfully they are all on the mend now. We wish them well.

We have many other helpers who chip in as required – e.g. Carolyn in the office, Ken, Greg and Gordon behind the bar, and Carolyn and Nicky for their great work running our social functions.

One person who deserves a special thank you, and congratulations, this year is Sandra Best. As Ladies Club Captain she set herself a target to fill the fields our two major the ladies’ tournaments. It should be noted that the Committee actually set much more modest growth targets!

With some excellent marketing, and personal contacts made with past and prospective players, she did fill those fields. A total of 226 players entered the two tournaments, versus 120 last year, and with help from Carolyn and Nicky, on sponsorship and entertainment, both the events were a fantastic success.

Several others also often help at tournaments (including Gibby, Ken and Greg) with raffles, as starters, and with catering, etc. A big thank you too, to Sarah (Gardiner) and to her very capable and efficient team on the catering.

Good keen volunteers are the very heart of our Club. Thank you to everyone else who also helped in some way.

2          Financial Results

The 2025-6 audited Accounts will be sent to you separately.

The Committee, and David, our Club Manager, are very pleased to report a Net Operating Profit of $96k versus $86k last year.  

There were some non-trading adjustments in both years … for well drilling and the grants received to fund those last year, and for write off of some obsolete assets this year.

After allowing for those non trading items our final Net Profit was $81k in FY26 compared to $79k in FY25. You will recall that last year was a good year after only a very small profit in the year prior to that.

Key variances to last year were:

Gains

• Tournament profits were up $9K (+31%)
• a grant of $19k was received from Kiwi Foundation Trust towards our insurance costs (which was ultimately used to fund clubhouse renovations)
• lower Interest paid $8k (due to loan repayments)

Reductions

• Green Fees were down by $5k (-1.8%)
• Course maintenance was up $15k (+39%) largely to fund the Living Turf rejuvenation of our greens (which will continue in 2026-7)
• All other minor costs and revenue changes netted to -$14k
• Note that our subs were not increased in FY26.

We repaid another $50k off the BNZ Loan in June leaving the balance owing at 30 June 2026 at $23k.

A number of capital expenditure projects were completed in during the year totalling $64k. More details of these are provided in the Capex section of this report.

Our Closing Bank Balance at 30 June 2026 is very healthy at $96k.

Overall our finances are in excellent shape.

Thank you to David, for keeping the books so professionally for the Club and also to Greg for his oversight work as treasurer. We also thank our accountant, Dawn Belcher, and our auditor Brett Chambers for their excellent service again this year.

3          2026-30 Strategic Plan

At a recent meeting the Committee reaffirmed the key strategic directions as stated in our current 5year plan. It remains our “road map” for the next 5 years.

5          Irrigation Water

Resolution of our water supply problem was undoubtedly a highlight of the year and a huge relief to everyone. Our course could not survive without irrigation!

Since 2023 we have been advised many times by ECAN that, for several reasons, we would not be able to continue using our existing well on the Donaldson property (a well that has continuously provided our irrigation water since 1970).

Because of that ruling, the Club drilled 4 bores in total on our course over a 2 year period… but all were “dry”.

Early in 2026 we still had no known water supply alternatives, so we recommenced negotiations with ECAN.

On 6 July we were delighted to receive a 19 year consent (to Jan 2045) to take irrigation water from our existing well, for use in irrigation of our greens and tees.

We do have daily and annual limits on our water usage so we will always have to irrigate prudently but we can manage that.

We sincerely thank ECAN officers for their understanding and co-operation and also Mark and Candyce Donaldson who own the land that our bore sits on.

The 4 failed wells, over 2 years, cost the Club approx. $50k net to drill. That is because we received two generous grants from The Mainland Trust to cover a very significant part of the total drilling cost. 

The last well that was drilled, on Hole 13, has been capped for possible future use in emergency, albeit that its current water flows are minimal.

Specifically, in 2026 we incurred the cost of the No 4 drill of $37k. Added to that the cost of consents and tidy up of our current bore were around $8k.

These, costs were not as prohibitive as initially feared (and budgeted for) so we embarked on our deferred capital works program ….

6          Capital Works

Over the last few months the following works have been completed.

Drilling “no.4” well                                                 $38k

Replacement of the old power poles on Hole 1        $15k

New practice cage                                                    $4k

Purchased new bar and kitchen appliances              $4k

Purchased a foamer  and a new sound system          $2k

Total Capital expenditure                                          $64k

We renewed the bar and kitchen floors and replaced the old “worn out” appliances. The cost of new flooring plus the purchase of a fridge (approx. $10k in total) will fall into 2026-7 because the work overlapped the two financial years.

We also completed a minor refurbishment of the ladies changing room.

We really appreciate the great work that Ken and Richie Camplell put into replacing the floors and the practice cage, and the clubhouse improvements.

We were very disappointed that our plan to plant trees on the roadside of holes 17 and 18 was foiled at the last minute due to unavailability of the 1.5m tall trees of the chosen varieties. The planting will now be scheduled for Autumn 2027.

6          Sponsors

We have a number of great sponsors and we really appreciate their support,

Once again our major tournament sponsors were Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa and Wilson Golf and Hanmer Hospitality (AVI).

A special thank you to them  and also to our hole sponsors and to the sponsors of the Ladies tournaments (including Four Square, Homestead of Hanmer, Springs Holiday Houses, Mhor and Odd Jobs Unlimited).

We received a very generous grant from the Kiwi Foundation for $19k to fund payment of our Material Damage Insurance premium (which was effectively used to fund the bar, kitchen and ladies changing room refurbishments).

Brian Mustchin has very generously donated a splendid trophy for the competition winner on AGM day each year, starting after this AGM. Thank you Brian.

7          Life Members

We acknowledge, and honour, our life members for their long-standing service to the Club – Bev Pool (who is also our Patron), Don Giles, Brian Mustchin and Rod Ensor.

8          Our course

The course played in great condition all year.

Early in the year we commissioned Living Turf to develop and execute a programme to rejuvenate our greens.

The Club’s last 2 strategic plans indicated that some of our greens (i.e. 4,5 and 6) may have to be totally rebuilt (at a huge cost and inconvenience to players).

Thankfully the rejuvenation work has been a great success so far and those rebuilds will not be necessary, at least in the foreseeable future. We will continue with the Living Turf programme in 2026-7.

As an update (on the day of completing this report) we have just received confirmation that Mainland Foundation have offered us a grant of $17k to fund most of our continued greens refurbishment programme.  A huge thank you to Mainland Trust for their generosity and to David for initiating this application.

The troublesome bunker on hole 11 was converted to a grass bunker and there was plenty of good maintenance work done on the course, the paths and the trees.

9          Club Competitions

Our Club Champions for the year were:

Other major winners were:

Woodbank Cottages Shoot Out - Tony Hawker   - R/up Brent Berry           

Alpine Village Inn Top Dog - Adam Jacks and Sam Gavin   - R/up Les Mitchell and Steve Hill

Congratulations once again to you all.

10        Our major tournaments

Our 2 day Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa sponsored Senior Pro Am tournament in late January had a full field with 60 professionals and 130 amateurs playing. The winning pro was Dominic Barson (10 under!!).

The best pro-am team was Craig Owen (pro), Kate Montgomery, Rebecca Gibson and Freins Sands (all from Auckland)

The Men’s Wilson Golf 54 hole tournament also had a full field of 168 players. The winners were Michael Berry (217 gross) and Ryan Fowler (198 net).

126 players played in the Ladies18 hole tournament. The winners were Jo McNichol (Harewood) best gross and Lyn Blaikie (Pleasant Point) best net.

100 players played in the Ladies’ 9 hole tournament which was won by Melanie Sanders from Waitikiri (best gross). Rosie Ross from Nelson had the best net.

Simes Cup -  Rae Bower and Stretch Renai

Bascand Cup  -  Mel Newburn (Coringa) and Geoff Rudduck (Waitikiri)

Minson Salver - Jade and Levi Sadler

11        Conclusion

So that is the 2025-6 year in review.

It was a very successful year in terms of golf and financials and the overall “spirit” of the club.

It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as your President over the past 2 years.

Thank you all for your support.

Best wishes for 2026-7 and beyond.

Graham

Graham Heenan, on behalf of the Committee

9 Sept 2026