A well attended public meeting was held on 12 May, 1971 and an interim committee was formed. The committee completed negotiations with the Council and construction commenced in earnest in the same month, with the Omanu Golf Club being registered on 9 June, 1971. The name of the club was derived from the presence of numerous elegant herons on and adjacent to the watercourses bisecting the land. 'Omanu' means the 'nesting place' or 'resting place of birds' and, as well as being appropriate for this reason, it was thought to have a nice ring about it and would perpetuate the name of an earlier part of Mount Maunganui.
Omanu Golf Club registered on 9 June, 1971
As with many new sporting bodies the club started without any cash or assets. This prompted a debenture issue to be arranged which raised a total of $13,450. Of this $10,000 was obtained from 5 public spirited donors:
- Mr & Mrs Parnwell - Parnwells Bakeries, $5,000
- Barry Beazley - Beazley Homes, $20,000
- S Tricklebank - the promoter of what is now 'Bayfair', $2,000
- Dominion Breweries Ltd, $1,000
Interestingly enough, none of these people had a direct interest in golf or any intention of playing, so the club was very much indebted to them.
Due largely to the supervision of Harry Dale and the untiring efforts of a number of volunteers the earthworks and course formation was completed well under budget and in record time. On the 12th of April, 1972 the course was officially opened with 120 members. Unfortunately, due to the harsh summers and lack of winter rain the course playing surface suffered as the grass was burnt off leaving the hardy weeds to take over and on one occasion a resowing was required.
In 1994 full course irrigation was installed which saw the club progress in leaps and bounds to the wonderful facility that we enjoy today.