Kina Cliffs home of the NBS Tasman Golf Club

Established 1937

Few golf courses enjoy a more distinctive character than Tasman with its three main valleys, its spread over gentle slopes & steeper knobs, and its overall inclination towards the sun.

The clubhouse commands a superb outlook over Tasman Bay, while almost every fairway & tee has its own special view.

Even the irrigation dam brings the bonus of reflections in its waters. Majestic pines surviving from earlier forestation present both beauty & golfing hazard. An assortment of planted ornamentals & natives give promise of further attractiveness. All these features combine to give members & visitors a thoroughly enjoyable game that shrewdly tests their skill.

Today’s high standard of greens & fairways, & the continuing improvement of the whole course, give assurance of a pleasing future.

Early history of the club ties into the pioneering spirit of the Moutere hills fruit growing & farming district. In 1912 the club land was planted in orchards. Steeper slopes & financial hardship saw the two orchards cut out after a few years. Baigent’s Ltd acquired the land for pine plantation. Early club records are missing. A foundation member (& life member) Alan Austin recalled that early would-be golfers were divided in their preference between Gardiner’s Valley & the present site. Mr H Dodson settled the issue by buying the present land, the club to pay it off as & when possible, no interest charged.

Where necessary, manuka and ten-foot gorse were pulled out by tractor; the smaller gorse and heather were grubbed out by the ladies!  Initially the links was only four holes. The first building was merely a hut to hold tools and a hand-mower.

War and depression imposed severe limitations for more than a decade.  But after the war the first clubhouse, a single room with veranda on two sides, was built. (Or was the first building in 1938 the clubhouse as described?)

The Club slowly climbed out of substantial difficulties.  Deer ceased to be a nuisance on the greens!  The years of grazing sheep and fenced greens gave way to clear fairway and the vastly improved tees and greens of today.
Heather, gorse and rushes were gradually eliminated by working bees:  and with them went rules like ‘Ball on other than right fairway be played as it lies except when in gorse or rushes’.

In 1960 it was agreed to proceed with plans for building a new Club house.  This was duly opened on 29th July 1962 when a ‘Mail’ report stated “The building looks over the golf course with a view of Mt. Arthur and Tasman Bay through picture windows on two sides.  It has a modern kitchen, marble fireplace, linoleum tiles on the floor, and is finished with natural wood.”

With increased membership, the Club house was extended substantially in 1970.  The original nine holes included too many par 3s and other limitations.   About 1970 positive development of an extensive area on the seaward side of the club was undertaken.  Some members contributed many hours of work with tractors and other machinery.

In 1975, with the addition of three totally new holes, the whole course was re-designed and very substantially lengthened, making it now an excellent nine-hole course. A million gallon dam, plus pumping system and pipes to all greens, was constructed in 1974-75. This ensures reasonably good greens even through the driest summer months. A comprehensive drainage system was completed in 1977, resulting in fast surface drainage and an all-weather course.

In 2006 the course was lengthened by 109 metres & the ‘par’ increased by two strokes with the addition of four new tee boxes.

Thanks to years of sound management and much voluntary service, fees have been kept to a level that provides healthy recreation and good sport at a surprisingly modest cost.