MICHAEL HILL - GOLFER
New Zealand’s high profile jewellery entrepreneur Michael Hill never envisaged his privately owned golf course, The Hills near Arrowtown, would one day be the venue for the New Zealand Open.
When the legendary Sir Bob Charles played the course for the first time almost two years ago, his immediate response was that in its stunning amphitheatre encircled by the Remarkables Mountains, with 180 degree views taking in Coronet Peak and the Crown Range, The Hills had the x-factor as a tournament golf course.
“After playing most of the course and arriving at the iconic 17th hole which is known as the Canyons Hole, Sir Bob asked if I realised that I had something very, very special here,” says Hill.
Sir Bob’s reaction motivated Hill to ‘go the extra mile’ to develop his 6600 metre course into an outstanding championship golf course.
Following Sir Bob’s visit New Zealand Golf and Bob Tuohy of Tuohy Associates NZ, whose company is managing the New Zealand Open inspected The Hills and in May 2007 officially announced it as the venue for New Zealand’s premier golf event, for three consecutive years.
The road to creating a private championship golf course, and hosting an event which was televised to over 200 million homes in 26 countries, has been a fascinating one for Hill and his wife Christine and family.
“We arrived in Queenstown in 1991, after living in Australia and when we were shown a 138 acre deer farm near Arrowtown we knew instantly it was what we wanted.”
The Hills built a home on the property and over the years purchased neighbouring land to create a 500 acre lot. The golf course itself had humble beginnings.
Queenstown landscape architect John Darby of Darby Partners Ltd designed a putting green which soon extended to a pitch and putt area with three greens.
“John suggested that we could put a tee here and a tee there and chip from all sorts of directions. It gave us a great little nine-hole course.”
The Hills smaller course, on occasion combined efforts with Millbrook golf resort, to raise money for charity.
“Millbrook would have their event with all the big names such as Sir Bob Charles, Greg Turner, Phil Tataurangi, Grant Moorhead and Steve Alker, then the shootout would be at my place. It would always attract a crowd and it was a great way of raising money for charity.”
Six years ago the decision was taken to create an 18-hole golf course and Hill admits ‘it’s been one hell of a ride.”
“We have done it all properly and threw out any thoughts of doing it on the cheap. We put in the maximum amount of bunkers and planted 55,000 tussocks and 100,000 flax bushes and cabbage trees as well as kowhais and native beech, which have created a very special environment.”
The Hills clubhouse is an award winning state-of-the-art complex designed by Andrew Patterson of Architects Patterson Ltd of Auckland. Two-thirds of the building, which overlooks the 18th green, has been built underground.
“My brief to Andrew was that not only do I want people to talk about the golf course, but I also want them to say ‘have you seen the clubhouse.’ That’s certainly been achieved and it is everything I had hoped for.”
The clubhouse won a Supreme Architectural Award at the 2008 NZ Institute of Architects Resene Awards for Architecture
Hill credits many people for the success of the inaugural Michael Hill New Zealand Open.
“There are many businesses and volunteers working locally to help make sure the event does get the recognition it deserves. By the same token the region and New Zealand receives some wonderful international exposure as a result of the Open coming to The Hills. This is a fantastic opportunity to market the region internationally as a golf and tourism destination.”
For Michael Hill, who confesses golf can be a ‘challenging but frustrating’ sport, creating a golf course which hosts the prestigious New Zealand Open has been a rewarding experience.
“The thing about achieving anything really great in life is that you get an enormous kick out of it. I feel privileged to live in this part of New Zealand and I’ve never lived in a better place. I want to give something back and this is my way of doing it.”