Inglewood mini-putt course almost ready for tee-off

Inglewood Mini Golf Charitable Trust chairman Graham Robinson is pleased with the course.

The Inglewood mini-putt course is almost ready for tee-off.

Inglewood Mini Golf Charitable Trust chairman Graham Robinson says the $400,000 project was announced in 2017.

"I'm a member of the Inglewood Lions Club and we had the idea to provide something exciting for people to do in town. The trust was then formed to handle construction, fundraising and to run the complex."

The project is funded by a number of community groups, organisations and businesses.

"The Taranaki Electricity Trust gave us a total of $300,000 for the roof and the course. The New Zealand Lions Trust contributed $45,000 towards the course and kiosk. Taranaki Civil is a big contributor to the project by putting the metal down so we could start building and connecting our sewage and stormwater free of charge. They are an outstanding community-minded group. We've had so many people help and without them this wouldn't have been possible."

He says the building work, besides the roofing, has been done by volunteers.

"Retired builder Ian Cheyne spent five months boxing all the holes so we could begin concreting. We've very lucky to have had concrete specialist Kerry Austin helping us. He easily spent over 500 hours on-site."

The team are working on the finishing touches.

"We have some landscaping to add to the course, vinyl for the kiosk and the last step will be adding the greens, which are coming from Wellington. We are also creating a sponsors wall and a big mural."

The mini-putt course will be great for both Inglewood and the Taranaki region, he says.

"It's covered so it's something people can do in the rain. It's great to see it come alive."

Graham hopes the course will be open by the end of June or early July.

"I can't wait to see what it will look like once it's finished. I'm very proud of what the team have done."

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