Wanaka

Wanaka Golf Club was established in 1911 with 23 members playing nine rudimentary holes on The Commonage, now Pembroke Park, with dirt greens and cattle grazing the fairways between lost balls in rabbit holes. World War I forced closure from 1914 to 1922, and it wasn't until 1926 that the community built a purpose-designed eighteen-hole course on Crown reserve land above the town, opening in 1927 with individual members each taking responsibility for one green - some, like Brooklands and Pill Box, still carry their original names. From 85 members in 1970, the club has grown to nearly 1,000 today, continuing more than a century of golf in the district.