April 4, 2025 • 8 mins
After 12 months in the role as President of Canterbury Golf, Dion Kerr joined Lesley Murdoch to give an update on the progress of the game from a governance angle.
The game is booming, and it appears that things are well on track behind the scenes as well, as Kerr and his team deal with the phenomenal growth across the board.
With thanks to Elmwood Trading Company, Kerr also touched on his time as a Canterbury Rugby representative and his personal interactions with the late Grizz Wylie.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Used talk se'd be it is twenty six away from
nine o'clock in time to talk golf in association with
the Onber Trading Company and the President of New Zealand
of Canterbury Golf is de you on good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, how are you very good?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Great to have you back on the ear waves. And
we know in Canterbury this upsurge in interest in golf
and not just watching what's happening around the world, but
actually out on the few ways in the greens. Have
you got any numbers?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh, we're literally in terms of green fee players, we're
up at least ten percent. Around New Zealand is about
five hundred and fifty thousand green fee players. Let alone
all our club players that we've got at the moment,
she is around about eighteen thousand.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
In Canterbury.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yes, yes, so, and that ranges from the little folk
right through to the older folks. So there's a wide
ranget that actually play quite a lot. But definitely green
free players is one of the biggest areas we're kind
of looking at as well.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
And so if that's one of your achievements over the
last twelve months, what else sticks out? Because once you've
got that wonderful platform. There's a whole lot of things
that you can do because I know we've spoken to
quite a few clubs who have been having centenaries or
you know, major milestones.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So we are in regards to the milestones. I think
it reinforces a lot of where golfers at the moment,
where rugby or cricket or you know, those kind of
clubroom environments a few years ago, twenty years ago, we're
the center point of any community. Now we're finding golfers
certainly taken that mantle as such. And so you know,
(01:39):
our main goal here for we've got thirty six clubs
in the Kenemy region, which is a huge amount of
golf clubs, and our goal with the mall is to
aid to look at that future of that teen year
fight to ten year plan on how can we keep
continuing this great growth that we currently have and how
we can look for it in the future. And that
ultimately comes back to young folks. And I'm saying from
(01:59):
the secondary goals to the you know, to the adults,
to the women. The woman area is a large area
that we're looking at currently. So we have this program
called she Loves Golf and last Monday we had one
hundred and ninety seven participants for their final one. It's
a Bob Charles's beautiful golf range at clear Water. So yeah,
progress moving forward in a positive way.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You're out there now, aren't you having a practice?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Maybe we've got a big semi final. And this is
what happens when when you're old and you can't run
around anymore, you find something else to, you know, to
get the adrenaline going, and golf is a great way
of doing that. It's you know, like tomorrow we've got
our semi finals against Avondale and you know it's it's competitive,
it's still fun and you know, at my age you
can still get part of a team's part of a
(02:44):
team as well, which is really fun. You know, golf
is are good people in general and good to be around.
So yeah, it's still even at my age you can
still participate.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Absolutely. And I was thinking when you said you had
thirty six clubs around Canterbury, that is it's a lot
of clubs. It's a lot of actual green turf and
we've here in stories up in Auckland. You know how
certain golf clubs facing well termination really because it needs
to be used for flood mitigation, but certainly we don't
(03:16):
have issues like that. But thirty six clubs, that's.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Massive, it is, and you know, and prior to COVID
was it was a bit of a you know, fraught
area for it because you know, the membership was down
and a whole lot of factors clubs were, even things
like tree lines like for example, trees grow old and
then they start falling down and there's a huge cost
involved in that. So you know, what we're doing as
part of Kennedy Golf is putting out all these things
(03:40):
that we should be aware of, and club membership is
definitely one of it, and of course maintenance is another one.
You know, you've got a nice course, people will play,
you've got good hospitality, people will stay. So you know,
it's a basic fundamental that we're really looking at as
for our organization in general as a benchmark, even our
executive on who we have on board. Now, you know,
(04:00):
we shoulder tap a lot of people to come on
board that have a specific skill set and we're passing
it on to all our clubs as well. So we've
just had this initiative that if any clubs want to
come to our executive meetings are more than welcome to
come along. So it's a very open, open communication, open
dialogue and you know, quite transparent as well. So we're
(04:21):
trying to encourage other clubs to be like that as well.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, no secrets and trade the secrets if you've got
them anyway, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I mean, we've got this all this knowledge that's locked
up in clubs and you know, like even the greenkeepers.
You know, we've just started the awards in the last
couple of years for the Greenkeeper of the Year, and
what we're doing is getting everyone to kind of share,
have a cup of coffee or a beer and sit
around and talk about fair Lizer and a little other
bits and pieces. And we're encouraging clubs to be like
(04:49):
that as well and just you know, engaging with one
another because that's how you pick up the best ideas
from other people.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Well, you're clearly not sitting on your hands, that's for sure.
Despite the book foyancy of where golfers, particularly here in Kendriby,
you're not sitting on your hands. On another note, Dion,
when you think back to your magnificent rugby playing days,
you would have come across of course Alec Wiley and tomorrow,
you know, very big tributes being paid up at omahe
(05:17):
at his beloved Glenmark clubrooms and you know what were
your memories?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Oh gosh, where do you start? I mean, you know
that word icons throwing around a lot, but you know,
I think he is one of our you know, those
those great Henry icons let New Zealand rugby. But if
you just look at it on a Glenmark basis, you know
what he did for that club was phenomenal. Then what
he did for you know, Canbury was phenomenal. In eighty six.
I was there, you know when we lost the shield
(05:44):
and through the good times of those twenty six of
the games as well. You know what he did for
the region. And you know, I remember when I was
little and coming up him. We played at North Island
team and John Hart was the coach and Alex was
the coach of the South Island one and he came
in and gave us all the rev art. We were
kind of you know, shedding our pants basically, and he
(06:04):
gave us that real mustache rev up and then we
ran out and I kind of noticed over the thing
he was in the bear tent while John Hart was
in the other one being serious and he's in the
bear tent, you know, watching our game. And then he
came on at halftime. See we're doing really well. We
can give it to these Aucklanders and you know, and
what he gave us was a bit of confidence. You know,
he didn't need to do a lot of rwer but
(06:26):
he's a very kind man, regardless of the gruffness. I
actually saw Rowic Taylor at the Secondary Schools Scolf Championships
last week and you know, we were talking about him
and even with his illness, he was still seeing players
that were unwell and going around and supporting them. And
you know, you don't hear a lot of that stuff
about guys like that, but that's why everyone loves them,
(06:47):
because of that soft hearted personality that he kind of
disguised with that big mustache.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Absolutely and quite rightly. So it'll be an absolute hero day, yeah,
Demain tomorrow, that's sure, Yeah, we'll do. It's been fantastic
to catch up with you. How wonderful that you were
involved in the governance of the game of golf now
and putting your big what do you playoffs?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Five at the moment oh, well done. Yeah, thank you. You
always want to, Like every golfer, you always want to
be lower and lower and et cetera. It's an addictive
game and it's a fun game, and it's you know,
it's a great way to spend time with family and friends.
And my ten year old's taking it up, which is
great news for me. Henry's had his first couple of lessons,
so you know, we've got one more in the in
the golfing Max.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Now, yeah, I've heard that a lot actually young people
coming through and they very much catch on and love
it very.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Quickly, very much. So there's even like the secondary school things.
I was just saying where I saw Warrick Taylor. You know,
we had one hundred and twenty participants here at Avondale,
and you know about five years ago we would have
had sixty. But you know the golf etiquette that all
these kids show you one hundred and twenty teenagers are
girls and boys and yet golf etiquette rules. You know
(07:58):
that they were polite, they were good afterwards. They don't
what the clubrooms about. There was no silliness. They were
you know, like I wouldn't imagine one hundred and twenty
other kids been around without some kids running around. But
you know, golfers have the etiquette base which we love
for our children. That's one of the first things we
learned teach them in our lessons as etiquette.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah. Absolutely, all the right principles, that's for sure. Yeah.
Oh well, fantastic to chat and.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Good luck before we really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
It's good luck tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Oh, thank you. I appreciate that as well. Thank you well.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
That is, see you later. That is Dion Kerr. He
is the president of Canoby Golf and doing a good job.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
For more from news talks that'd be listen live on
air or online and keep
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Our shows with you wherever you go with our podcasts
on IR Radio.
Used talk se'd be it is twenty six away from
nine o'clock in time to talk golf in association with
the Onber Trading Company and the President of New Zealand
of Canterbury Golf is de you on good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, how are you very good?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Great to have you back on the ear waves. And
we know in Canterbury this upsurge in interest in golf
and not just watching what's happening around the world, but
actually out on the few ways in the greens. Have
you got any numbers?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh, we're literally in terms of green fee players, we're
up at least ten percent. Around New Zealand is about
five hundred and fifty thousand green fee players. Let alone
all our club players that we've got at the moment,
she is around about eighteen thousand.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
In Canterbury.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yes, yes, so, and that ranges from the little folk
right through to the older folks. So there's a wide
ranget that actually play quite a lot. But definitely green
free players is one of the biggest areas we're kind
of looking at as well.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
And so if that's one of your achievements over the
last twelve months, what else sticks out? Because once you've
got that wonderful platform. There's a whole lot of things
that you can do because I know we've spoken to
quite a few clubs who have been having centenaries or
you know, major milestones.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So we are in regards to the milestones. I think
it reinforces a lot of where golfers at the moment,
where rugby or cricket or you know, those kind of
clubroom environments a few years ago, twenty years ago, we're
the center point of any community. Now we're finding golfers
certainly taken that mantle as such. And so you know,
(01:39):
our main goal here for we've got thirty six clubs
in the Kenemy region, which is a huge amount of
golf clubs, and our goal with the mall is to
aid to look at that future of that teen year
fight to ten year plan on how can we keep
continuing this great growth that we currently have and how
we can look for it in the future. And that
ultimately comes back to young folks. And I'm saying from
(01:59):
the secondary goals to the you know, to the adults,
to the women. The woman area is a large area
that we're looking at currently. So we have this program
called she Loves Golf and last Monday we had one
hundred and ninety seven participants for their final one. It's
a Bob Charles's beautiful golf range at clear Water. So yeah,
progress moving forward in a positive way.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You're out there now, aren't you having a practice?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Maybe we've got a big semi final. And this is
what happens when when you're old and you can't run
around anymore, you find something else to, you know, to
get the adrenaline going, and golf is a great way
of doing that. It's you know, like tomorrow we've got
our semi finals against Avondale and you know it's it's competitive,
it's still fun and you know, at my age you
can still get part of a team's part of a
(02:44):
team as well, which is really fun. You know, golf
is are good people in general and good to be around.
So yeah, it's still even at my age you can
still participate.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Absolutely. And I was thinking when you said you had
thirty six clubs around Canterbury, that is it's a lot
of clubs. It's a lot of actual green turf and
we've here in stories up in Auckland. You know how
certain golf clubs facing well termination really because it needs
to be used for flood mitigation, but certainly we don't
(03:16):
have issues like that. But thirty six clubs, that's.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Massive, it is, and you know, and prior to COVID
was it was a bit of a you know, fraught
area for it because you know, the membership was down
and a whole lot of factors clubs were, even things
like tree lines like for example, trees grow old and
then they start falling down and there's a huge cost
involved in that. So you know, what we're doing as
part of Kennedy Golf is putting out all these things
(03:40):
that we should be aware of, and club membership is
definitely one of it, and of course maintenance is another one.
You know, you've got a nice course, people will play,
you've got good hospitality, people will stay. So you know,
it's a basic fundamental that we're really looking at as
for our organization in general as a benchmark, even our
executive on who we have on board. Now, you know,
(04:00):
we shoulder tap a lot of people to come on
board that have a specific skill set and we're passing
it on to all our clubs as well. So we've
just had this initiative that if any clubs want to
come to our executive meetings are more than welcome to
come along. So it's a very open, open communication, open
dialogue and you know, quite transparent as well. So we're
(04:21):
trying to encourage other clubs to be like that as well.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, no secrets and trade the secrets if you've got
them anyway, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I mean, we've got this all this knowledge that's locked
up in clubs and you know, like even the greenkeepers.
You know, we've just started the awards in the last
couple of years for the Greenkeeper of the Year, and
what we're doing is getting everyone to kind of share,
have a cup of coffee or a beer and sit
around and talk about fair Lizer and a little other
bits and pieces. And we're encouraging clubs to be like
(04:49):
that as well and just you know, engaging with one
another because that's how you pick up the best ideas
from other people.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Well, you're clearly not sitting on your hands, that's for sure.
Despite the book foyancy of where golfers, particularly here in Kendriby,
you're not sitting on your hands. On another note, Dion,
when you think back to your magnificent rugby playing days,
you would have come across of course Alec Wiley and tomorrow,
you know, very big tributes being paid up at omahe
(05:17):
at his beloved Glenmark clubrooms and you know what were
your memories?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Oh gosh, where do you start? I mean, you know
that word icons throwing around a lot, but you know,
I think he is one of our you know, those
those great Henry icons let New Zealand rugby. But if
you just look at it on a Glenmark basis, you know
what he did for that club was phenomenal. Then what
he did for you know, Canbury was phenomenal. In eighty six.
I was there, you know when we lost the shield
(05:44):
and through the good times of those twenty six of
the games as well. You know what he did for
the region. And you know, I remember when I was
little and coming up him. We played at North Island
team and John Hart was the coach and Alex was
the coach of the South Island one and he came
in and gave us all the rev art. We were
kind of you know, shedding our pants basically, and he
(06:04):
gave us that real mustache rev up and then we
ran out and I kind of noticed over the thing
he was in the bear tent while John Hart was
in the other one being serious and he's in the
bear tent, you know, watching our game. And then he
came on at halftime. See we're doing really well. We
can give it to these Aucklanders and you know, and
what he gave us was a bit of confidence. You know,
he didn't need to do a lot of rwer but
(06:26):
he's a very kind man, regardless of the gruffness. I
actually saw Rowic Taylor at the Secondary Schools Scolf Championships
last week and you know, we were talking about him
and even with his illness, he was still seeing players
that were unwell and going around and supporting them. And
you know, you don't hear a lot of that stuff
about guys like that, but that's why everyone loves them,
(06:47):
because of that soft hearted personality that he kind of
disguised with that big mustache.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Absolutely and quite rightly. So it'll be an absolute hero day, yeah,
Demain tomorrow, that's sure, Yeah, we'll do. It's been fantastic
to catch up with you. How wonderful that you were
involved in the governance of the game of golf now
and putting your big what do you playoffs?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Five at the moment oh, well done. Yeah, thank you. You
always want to, Like every golfer, you always want to
be lower and lower and et cetera. It's an addictive
game and it's a fun game, and it's you know,
it's a great way to spend time with family and friends.
And my ten year old's taking it up, which is
great news for me. Henry's had his first couple of lessons,
so you know, we've got one more in the in
the golfing Max.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Now, yeah, I've heard that a lot actually young people
coming through and they very much catch on and love
it very.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Quickly, very much. So there's even like the secondary school things.
I was just saying where I saw Warrick Taylor. You know,
we had one hundred and twenty participants here at Avondale,
and you know about five years ago we would have
had sixty. But you know the golf etiquette that all
these kids show you one hundred and twenty teenagers are
girls and boys and yet golf etiquette rules. You know
(07:58):
that they were polite, they were good afterwards. They don't
what the clubrooms about. There was no silliness. They were
you know, like I wouldn't imagine one hundred and twenty
other kids been around without some kids running around. But
you know, golfers have the etiquette base which we love
for our children. That's one of the first things we
learned teach them in our lessons as etiquette.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah. Absolutely, all the right principles, that's for sure. Yeah.
Oh well, fantastic to chat and.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Good luck before we really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
It's good luck tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Oh, thank you. I appreciate that as well. Thank you well.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
That is, see you later. That is Dion Kerr. He
is the president of Canoby Golf and doing a good job.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
For more from news talks that'd be listen live on
air or online and keep
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Our shows with you wherever you go with our podcasts
on IR Radio.
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