Charles Gray and Golf

Gray’s other great sporting interest was golf which he took up as he became older and his interest in tennis dwindled. In 1925 he was elected an honorary member of the Miramar Golf Club “in consideration of valuable help and advice on the course.” (New Zealand Times, 28 February 1925, p3)

Ten years later on a fine Saturday afternoon in September 1935 a nine-hole golf course was opened at Pukerua Bay. Charles Gray was the driving force behind the course: it was on his land and he employed Wellington professional golfer and 1926 and 1927 New Zealand Professional Golf Champion J. D. Mclntosh to design the links. Gray’s former enthusiasm for tennis was now transferred to enthusiasm for golf. Among the large number of visitors from Wellington golf clubs and local dignitaries present at the opening were Mr and Mrs W.H. Field MP, Lady Pomare and Miss Pomare. Field performed the opening ceremony for the course which “embraces a wonderful panorama of sea and countryside”. (Evening Post 2, September 1935, p15) Guests were served afternoon tea by Mr and Mrs Gray in the clubhouse.

The Pukerua Bay Golf Club was formed at an “enthusiastic” meeting a year later with Gray being elected president, an office he held for the rest of his life. He was also congratulated on the site of the course. The course supervisor was Mr A. Lomax who presented the Club with its flag in August 1937. Elizabeth Gray raised the flag amid cheers for the donor. (Evening Post, 19 August 1937, p16) Elizabeth Gray later became the Club’s only life member. With the course only a minute’s walk from the station and the opening of Paremata Bridge for road traffic it was an attractive course for visiting golfers. In 1937 the first Easter Tournament was held. That year the Pukerua Bay Golf Club became a member of the New Zealand Golf Association. Charles and Elizabeth Gray donated the Gray Cup and the Gray Rose Bowl which were competed for annually. (Evening Post, 26 November 1937, p7) Barbara Kay in Anthony Wall, Settler of Porirua wrote that the first winner of the Gray Rose Bowl was a daughter of Reg and Isabella Wall. She was asked not to come again: the Wall and Gray families had been at loggerheads almost from the time Gray came to Pukerua. The results of Pukerua Bay Golf Club competitions were published in newspapers throughout the years the Club existed. In 1942 the Pukerua Bay Golf Club claimed £210/10/0 in relation to land taken for the Plimmerton-Paekākāriki State Highway. The land taken would force construction of a whole new No.1 hole, tee and green and the complete re-arrangement of the layout of the Golf Links. A settlement was reached with the golf course left intact. (Roads – Wellington Road District – Pukerua Bay claim – Charles Grey 1938 – 1943 R21067419. Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga.)

In 1950 the land was sold by Lindsay Gray, Charles and Elizabeth’s son. The Club went into recess at the beginning of 1952 owing to “loss of links”. The final Annual General Meeting was held on Friday 23 July 1954 when the Club funds of £143 were shared equally between the Harry Squires Memorial Fund and the Pukerua Bay Surf Club. The Rev Harry Squires (1907 – 1954) was a former Wellington City Missioner and the fund was to build a hostel for elderly people. (Incorporated Societies – Pukerua Bay Golf Club – Incorporated. R25531906. Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga.)

The former Pukerua Bay Golf Course is now the housing area known as Greenmeadows where residents still occasionally find golf balls in their gardens. The whereabouts of the Gray Cup and the Gray Rose Bowl are unknown.

By Ashley Blair