Tara's Iti's Ric Kayne and Jim Rohrstaff with Emma and Sir Michael Hill at The Hills golf course near Arrowtown.
Tara's Iti's Ric Kayne and Jim Rohrstaff with Emma and Sir Michael Hill at The Hills golf course near Arrowtown.
Members of Sir Michael Hill’s golf course, The Hills, fear they will be excluded in the future under a new partnership with the developers of the exclusive Tara Iti and Te Arai links courses at Mangawhai. Jane Phare reports.
In terms of high-end golf gossip, all eyes areon The Hills, jeweller Sir Michael Hill’s exclusive golf course near Arrowtown, an estate studded with sculptures that give the Gibbs Farm a run for its money.
It’s a private members club; entry is via closed gates and tens of thousands of dollars for a family pass. Club members meet at the stylish Andrew Patterson-designed club house for brunch, hop on a golf cart and play a leisurely 18 holes overlooked by majestic mountain ranges. A limited number of non-members can play a round of golf that costs $750.
But the inter-member chatter and rumours took off last year when United States finance guru Ric Kayne and his business partner Jim Rohrstaff, who developed Tara Iti and Te Arai Links golf courses at Mangawhai together, were seen strolling with Sir Michael and his daughter Emma in the 200ha estate.
Then came an email last month informing members of a new joint venture with Kayne and Rohrstaff, an announcement that sparked more wild speculation.
That email from The Hills, circulated widely among the golfing fraternity, including the neighbouring Millbrook Resort, has made some members uneasy, fearing they will be excluded under the new regime.
It was a couple of paragraphs in the email, informing them the current membership model was under review, that disturbed those members that spoke to the Herald.
“An equity ownership structure is one of the options being considered. This would offer an opportunity to invest in part ownership of the club,” the email said.
It’s a model that is used at the uber-exclusive Tara Iti golf resort where members own a share, an investment that will set them back hundreds of thousands of dollars plus annual fees.
Members who play at Tara Iti, many of them having built houses there, include Briscoes baron Rod Duke, rich-lister Chris Liddell and his wife Renee Harbers, Deirdre and David McAlpine, of Kea Property Group, business gurus Elizabeth and Paul Blackwell, Lynette Erceg, the Farmer family, and several wealthy Americans.
Rohrstaff won’t be drawn on The Hills’ rumours. It’s early days, he says. However, he did quash one myth. The Hill family are not going anywhere and have not sold the property to Kayne and Rohrstaff.
“That’s absolutely not true. The Hill family are still very much engaged and part of the partnership.”
The Hills, Sir Michael Hill's private golf course near Arrowtown.
Michael and Christine Hill, and their daughter Emma and her children have homes on the property as does their sculptor son Mark. Mark Hill’s sculptures are created in his studio at The Hills with some on display on the golf course and another showcased outside Queenstown Airport.
However, Rohrstaff sidestepped questions about future ownership of The Hills under the new joint venture.
“There is a partnership. I can’t talk too much about the triggers and the when and what and how, and we never will.”
In the meantime The Hills members have been told their current membership status will not change for the rest of the year and in every likelihood, 2025.
It will take time to finalise plans and details would be shared later in the year, the email says. Those plans include an extension to the existing clubhouse and new golfing facilities, a golf course renovation, luxury visitor accommodation and residential homes.
Approval exists for 140 homes at The Hills but Rohrstaff says it’s too early to say what will be built. The mix will include visitor accommodation, residential homes and much-needed staff accommodation.
“The reality is we don’t know what we’re doing. We’re looking at everything right now because we do want to upgrade everything – the club house, the golf course, the amenities, the real estate offering. We’re going to look at every single component with Michael and Emma.”
The goal is to make The Hills “the absolute crown jewel of the South Island”, he says.
Property and golf resort developer John Darby, who was instrumental in creating the golf course and is a member at Tara Iti and The Hills, points out that The Hills is not a club as such.
The Hills is a private course owned by the Hill family, he says, and people are invited to play on it for an annual fee, effectively a licence to use it. That difference had caused “confusion”, he says.
One of the sculptures featured at The Hills golf course.
Emma Hill reiterated that there was much to work through in the coming year before details were finalised. She confirmed that The Hills’ famous sculptures were not at risk of disappearing.
“Absolutely they are staying, they are part of what makes The Hills a unique experience.”
Jane Phare is a senior Auckland-based features and investigations journalist, former assistant editor of NZ Herald and former editor of the Weekend Herald and Viva.
