Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club superintendent and general manager Leo Barber. Photo / David Haxton
Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club superintendent and general manager Leo Barber. Photo / David Haxton
Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club's Leo Barber is Golf New Zealand's administrator of the year.
Barber, the club's general manager as well as superintendent, was one of 14 people and clubs recognised at the 2020 National Golf Awards.
The award was given to an administrator serving the sport at club, regional or national level who has made an outstanding contribution to the growth, success, enjoyment, or profile of the game in their administrative role.
Although a bit uneasy about having the spotlight on him, Barber said it was "a nice accolade" and "getting some validation from the national body was good".
"As an administrator it's not uncommon to hear what you might be doing wrong...it's very humbling to have been acknowledged for perhaps getting some things right.
Golf New Zealand chief executive Dean Murphy, at a joint general managers and superintendents fine turf summit in Auckland, summed up why Barber was chosen, describing him as "a bit of the everything man".
"For those of you who have had the pleasure of seeing his passion, drive and commitment to the spiritual home of golf in New Zealand at Paraparaumu Beach, you'll know that he truly lives and breathes everything about that place.
"You're a great example of what can be done with an incredible amount of passion, not a huge amount of resource, but the right attitude and the right kind of love for the game.
"I think what you did through lockdown with your communications with members, the Legends of the Links podcast series, and everything you did to grow the love of golf in the community, and particularly the members, was something you should be incredibly proud of.
"Administration probably has a bit of a negative connotation of being in the back room but you really are the front guy for the club."
New Zealand's spiritual home of golf: Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club.
Being in charge of the golf club was a busy job and on any given day Barber could be the greenkeeper, marketing manager, media person, IT person, membership person, financial controller and more.
"It's keeping the business of the club going," Barber said, adding praise to the supportive staff and volunteers.
"My role also gives me a good overview of everything and the ability to have influence with the direction of the golf club and its promotion."
Barber came from a greenkeeping background having developed an early fascination about "what made a good lawn different than a bad lawn, and why a golf green was the way it was and my front lawn was the way it was".
When he left school at 18 he undertook an apprenticeship at Whitby Golf Club.
"I plotted a course of what I would have to do to end up as the superintendent at Paraparaumu Beach, which I thought was the best golf course in New Zealand, and about 10 years later it happened, and then I went one step wider and became general manager too.
"It's funny because becoming general manager was not something I sought.
"I was happy just being the superintendent but the opportunity [general manager] came up.
"I saw taking this job on as a way of extending my time at the golf club and could add a few more strings to the bow of what I could do afterwards if that happened.
"I'm very happy here."
And the club was in good shape under his, and others, stewardship especially after weathering the lockdown.
"We had a fantastic year last year with a record surplus, our membership has just ticked over 800 which is the first time since 2004, rounds of golf are up…
"It's about consolidating on the gains we've had post-Covid because we don't want it to drop off.
