Jonathan Stieller: Weedons Golf Club spokesperson on the growth of the club

The Weedons Golf Club is a fixture in the Selwyn District and with 669 members it’s one of Canterbury’s biggest.

Jonathan Stieller is the man that looks after the Weedons Golf Club, he runs the day to day operations for the golf club, as well as being one of the districts top golfers.

Jonathan spoke with Lesley Murdoch in association with the Elmwood Trading Company about the rapid growth of the club cross the last couple of years particularly in the junior ranks.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well in association with the Elward Trading Company. Thank you
very much, Marty Fuller and the team out at the Elmwood.
We are going out to Whedon's Golf Club out at
so in Distant. We know how that has grown exponentially
in the last decade. The face of the club. He
is a very good golfer as well, and I'm talking
about Jonathan Steller.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning, Good morning, Leslie. How are you this morning?

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Very good? Well, I'm looking at the website and a
magnificent photo of the Whedon's Golf Club and it offers
what to your very big membership out there.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
We at the Whedon's Golf Club. We've got a wonderful
eighteen hole golf course out there in great condition. We
have an absolute genius greenkeeper out there and has improved
the place beautifully. We have wonderful greens conditions out there,
a little bit heavy after the rain that we've heard
over the last couple of weeks. Of course, we have
a golf course that's open and ready to play, a
fully stocked shop for all of your golfing needs. And

(00:52):
we also have a wonderful clubhouse in bar. Facilities out
there that have been recently refurbished and are looking great
and are wonderful for an aft around beverage.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Oh why not. You've got to have that in the
nineteenth hole for sure. Now the course itself, now, I'm
reliably told, and you being a wonderful goal for yourself.
The par five ninth hole is the longest hole in
Canterbury at five hundred and fifty six meters, So tell
me how tough is it to play that ninth hole.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's famous, It's absolutely famous, our ninth hole. Now. I
grew up playing at Weedon's. I've been there for a
long time. I was there in the eighties and we
always had the honor of having the longest hole in
the Southern Hemisphere until about nineteen ninety two. That hole
is very very difficult. It tricks a lot of people,
very very difficult to hit in two. For the long
it is out there, it has taken many many scalps

(01:45):
over the years. Notably in this year is this year's
Weedon's Open, where a great temperance golf for Daniel Lawton
was leading the Weedons Open and that was a final
hole and he made a nine down the last hole
to lose the tournament. By one, So that hole as
been absolutely famous over the years. It's the one that
everyone talks about when they come to Weedens. It's a

(02:05):
great test of golf. That whole about one hold, Well.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
You've got to have a challenge, and that's the challenge clearly.
The other challenge, I guess we know in club land
getting a club running, keeping it running, having a long juvity.
How many volunteers help you out to keep this Sweden's
golf club going.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
We don't have a lot of full time staff. We
are basically run mainly by volunteers. We have a great
team of about eight to ten volunteers that regularly help
us out there with all of our day to day
cleaning up and places like us, we can't run without
the help of our volunteers.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
When you look at that six hundred and sixty nine
members out there at Weedon's, how many of them are juniors.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
We've got over one hundred juniors. We've got a really
really good junior program that runs on a Saturday afternoon.
One of our longstanding members, Margaret Langen, runs a wonderful
junior program. We have been picking up juniors due to
the wonderful work that they do. A lot of university
students come out and play. They come down, and the
ones that live in the halls at Lincoln and some

(03:08):
m Cannabury University they come down and use our facilities
as well. Yeah, look, we've got a really good junior
membership base.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
For you as a golfer as well. How often do
you get to play on this wonderful course.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Well, you know what, Funnily enough, I used to play
a lot more. Now that I work out there, I
don't tend to play very more. A lot of people
say to me, Jonathan, you know what, You've got a
perfect job out there. As it turns out, the place
is so busy now with all of the Green Flea
traffic and the incredible growth and membership that we've had
over the last two years, I actually don't get a

(03:42):
lot of time to actually play golf.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
So watch your handicap.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Well, I'm on a plus two at the moment off
the white teas at Weeds are on a plus two
off the blue te's. That always gives you a couple
of extra handicap shots. I'll be playing on about.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
A scratch there and any holes in one.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
I actually had my only hole in one playing for
Canterbury back in nineteen ninety five, but none out at
Whedon never been able to conquer any of the Whedons.
Part three. So but you know there's time.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
There's still time. Absolutely. Well, look, you're only twenty minutes
from christ Church, as you've said, plenty of green feed
traffic out there, and it is a gorgeous club. And
I know you know you mentioned Margaret Langnon's name, the
Langon of course synonymous with Wheden's. Great people, great volunteers
like any other golf club. And obviously the work that
you do out there, Jonathan, stellar, fantastic, keeping it going,

(04:30):
and that's all you have to do, keep that club going.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
That's right, that's right, And I just want to thank
all of all of my staff out there as well.
We've got a wonderful green keeper, Fort Hanson. We've got
a great apprentice so Lee, who are who are brilliant
at preparing the golf course, and we have casual staff
out there who are only happy to look after everybody.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Well, it looks like we're going to have to come
out and have a game around there. At some stage.
We'll be in touch with that, Jonathan. But thanks so
much for talking to us and keep up the fantastic work.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you
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