A brand-new championship golf course makes its public debut at Queenstown’s Millbrook Resort next week.
The Coronet 18 opens to the public on Monday, January 3, a combination of the stunning new Coronet 9 which wends its way around a newly-developed area of Millbrook called Mill Farm, and the existing Coronet 9 holes.
With the Remarkables 18 also in play, Millbrook is now one of only two golf courses in New Zealand to offer two distinctly different 18-hole courses.
A golfer’s dream, the two courses will be played on alternate days by members and visitors.
The launch coincides with the re-opening last week of the totally renovated Pro Shop and new village centre improvements, a $4million-plus infrastructure investment designed to enhance the five-star golf and lifestyle resort’s guest experience and boost New Zealand golf tourism.
A new 1000sqm practice putting green has been constructed near the golf shop and reception building, and tees have been reconfigured on the Remarkables No.1 hole. The resort’s fleet of golf carts has doubled due to the new course offering, so the resort has also built impressive new golf cart storage barns and cart wash-down facilities.
A 25m-wide tree-lined boulevard is an outstanding feature between the new cart barns and golf shop, designed as a shared space for pedestrians, golf carts and vehicles from the reception area towards The Spa, Health & Fitness Centre and the new Coronet golf course.
The golf shop has been significantly renovated with French doors opening out onto a new deck towards the starters area, and a new retail fit-out.
An improved arrival court adjacent to the reception building has created a larger, safer and easier to navigate forecourt, surrounded by schist stone walls and with views over the new putting green and towards The Remarkables. It also features a new porter shed.
Millbrook’s Director of Property and Development Ben O’Malley says Millbrook members were given the first opportunity to play the new Coronet 18 and reactions had been “fantastic”.
“They’re loving playing the new holes and we have strong bookings already in place for both 18’s,” he says.
“Keen golfers are always enthusiastic for different experiences. They’re enjoying the higher elevations, rock faces, the lake, wetlands and stream area of the new course, which has a distinctly agrarian feel thanks to mobs of sheep wandering alongside the course in interlinking paddocks.
“The smiles on the faces of members as they’ve played the course has made it well worth the effort of the last seven years of planning and development.”
The new course was designed by former golf pro Greg Turner and Scott Macpherson and includes what Millbrook believes to be the highest commercial golf tee in the country (the 12th tee on the Coronet 18) at 480 metres above sea level.
“Millbrook is coming of age with the new Coronet course which represents a 21st-century evolution, a more modern version, of previous courses,” says Turner.
“The transformation from the valley floor to the plateaus of the Coronet 9 completes a golfing journey which encompasses all there is to offer in the Wakatipu Basin.”
Greg Turner anticipates the new Coronet 18 par-five 11th hole looking towards Coronet Peak will become one of the most photographed holes in New Zealand.
Golf professionals and amateurs playing in the New Zealand Open from March 31 to April 3 will experience the brand-new championship Coronet 18 when it makes its event debut.
Event spectators will be able to enjoy a range of spectacular vistas with 360-degree views of Coronet Peak and The Remarkables mountain ranges.
Deep valleys amongst the rocky escarpments and riparian wetlands adjacent to Mill Stream are home to 34,000 native species planted over the past two years, adding to the appeal of the new course.
Mill Farm, a $50million development that builds on 200 years of agricultural history, is also home to a range of exceptional sections providing would-be homeowners with all the benefits of a rural lifestyle environment. All 17 initial sites released earlier this year have sold, with construction already underway on two properties.
Edited by: Stephen Morton
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