Mal Bird: Golf for Good organiser on the mini-golf course that will give all profits to the community

A putting-green style mini-golf course is opening on the Kapiti Coast in late November, thanks to the hard work of the Kāpiti Rotary Club and the Combined Lions Clubs of Kāpiti.

Golf for Good will see every dollar of profit support local charities, youth groups and projects that help the local area thrive.

Mal Bird - one of those behind the project - joined Adam Cooper ahead of the course's opening.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Right around the Wellington region.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
The All Sport Breakfast with Rutherford and Bond, Toyota and
King Toyota, your home of hybrid used talk zivy eight's
here on the All Sport Breakfast. Well, something pretty special
has been brewing at the amazing Garb Reserve and patapata Umu.
Now the Carpety Rotary Club and the Combined Lines Clubs
of Carpety have been behind the creation of an amazing
modern eighteen hole mini golf course. Now it's called Golf

(00:25):
for Good because every dollar of profit from this is
going to go to local initiatives. Now, when you think
mini golf, you often think those small contained holes with
those concrete barriers around the holes.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, this is a bit of an expanded one.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
It's a putting green style layout, the holes a lot
longer than your usual mini golf course. The usual hazards
like bunkers are there as well for everyone's punishment. Now
it opens next weekend. So this is an amazing initiative
that's come to life. Mel Bird is one of the
drivers of the project. He's with me now morning to
your mail. It must be exciting seeing this dream now

(00:58):
become a reality.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yes, it is. It's been a long journey, but we've
got there, and to think that. In February this year
we changed our scope to go with the Himalayas design.
This is a crew that came from Canada and South Africa.
They came on site and they came up with this
amazing idea of how we could look at building golf courses.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
And I know a few of you must have had
a little bit of a practice on it so far.
How does it play as the form on the course
at this early stage, it's.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
Really quite interesting. The designers have made it in such
a way as for families okay, and that you can
get a hole in one okay. And on Thursday night
we had a seven year old get a hole in
one on number eight, so it's all achievable. This one
of the holes is eighteen meters long and then we
have short holes. But we also have a really challenging

(01:51):
hole on the seventeenth with a really big bunker. The
banker is about a meter deep. So a lot of
people who end up.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
In there, great, I'm sure I will, and I come
out and have a hit mail.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
And so from next weekend this is going to be
open for anyone from around the region anywhere else to
come along, have a hit and I'll know it's a
very affordable price, mel and the profits are all going
to go to local initiatives, right.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
That's correct, That's how it's all been engineered to do.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Okay, fantastic.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
So I mean, what's your advice to people. I know
there's some memberships on offer. How can people fully get
in behind and support the project?

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah, just go on site and comes into site. We
can give you all the details on Facebook site. Have
a look at that. There's all these offers that we're
making and yeah, you know, we've got one hundred and
fifteen different types of groups have been involved in the
project and some of them have given vouchers and that
as well. So getting to know your sponsors is going

(02:45):
to be really important. But yeah, coming down, that's thirty
five dollars for a family past that includes three children
and two adults, which was really reasonable. So yeah, come
down there we go.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Absolutely, So next weekend it opens. Are the final finishing
touch just been put on the course over these next
few days.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Now, we've been working on it all week. It's pretty
well good to go. So yeah, it's just getting all
the fine little pieces. Yeah, but it's pretty well all
ready to go.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Great stuff and just before you go mail.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
This goes to show just what you know, a few
people around communities can can do.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Right.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
I know you've had a lot of sponsors, but you
know you guys have really driven this project from the start,
right and it's there for the community, by the community.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah. I can only say a big thank you to
Jason Buckley of Mills Albert. He was the chief for
me to get to Mills Albert on board and they
were just amazing getting total Span on board together with
all the others. It's just been an amazing journey. Just
how many people on the Cavity coast have joined up
to help, like one hundred and fourteen different consultants and

(03:48):
contractors and it's just been amazing, wonderful. As for our board,
you've got to have a really energized crew like we
have got for our board and with lines actually working
together and they get through seven months and get her
and amendment done on the consent and builders in ten weeks.
It takes a big commitment.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Wonderful or congratulations to all involved. Mal thanks for your
time this morning. So it opens next weekend. Golffogod dot
org dot nz has all the information. It's at Mazing
Guard Reserve and parta part of UMU opens next weekend.
Here that's prices thirty five bucks to get the whole
family along. That is absolutely fantastic. It's affordable, so get
along and support this great course. I've been looking at
a few photos of it. It looks absolutely amazing Golf

(04:31):
for good. Congratulations to everyone involved in the project. For
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