{"id":198144,"date":"2025-06-19T21:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T21:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/198144\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T21:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T21:27:08","slug":"rotoruas-lakeview-golf-club-reborn-with-modern-clubhouse-after-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/198144\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua\u2019s Lakeview Golf Club reborn with modern clubhouse after fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Club golf professional Josh Edwards, who runs the Four Stripes Golf Rotorua shop at the club, said the fire started<\/a> after a deep fryer electrical fault.<\/p>\n

The fault caused the appliance to continually heat up past a set level, and it eventually caught fire. The extractor fan sucked the flames into the roof cavity and within 15 minutes the building was engulfed.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe day the Lakeview Golf and Country Clubhouse was destroyed in fire. Photo \/ Stephen Parker <\/p>\n

Once members got over the initial shock, they worked to rebuild the club<\/a> using the insurance payout, community grants and a loan.<\/p>\n

Edwards said they wanted to build a space for not only the 280 members who own the club and golf course, but also for the wider community.<\/p>\n

\"FirefightersFirefighters battle the Lakeview Golf and Country Club blaze in 2020. Photo \/ Stephen Parker<\/p>\n

Edwards said that before the Covid-19 pandemic, golf was on the decline and councils around New Zealand were eyeing courses for housing space<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n

But he said that had since turned around.<\/p>\n

According to Golf New Zealand, golf is the nation\u2019s most played sport, with more than half a million Kiwis playing each year at one of the 390 clubs throughout the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf is now more of a young person\u2019s sport. Its popularity has grown thanks to the likes of TikTok and Instagram, and it\u2019s not just a stuffy old nana and grandad sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new space <\/a>will be officially unveiled before invited guests at a ribbon-cutting ceremony tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Club operations manager Rachel Beckett said it would be a celebration of resilience, renewal and memories.<\/p>\n

She said the loss of the club was felt deeply by the members and the wider community. <\/p>\n

\" Lakeview Golf and Country Club operations manager Rachel Beckett and golf professional Josh Edwards at the newly developed club. Photo \/ Kelly Makiha<\/p>\n

\u201cBut from that hardship came a renewed spirit and a commitment to rebuild stronger than ever. The newly completed clubrooms not only replace what was lost \u2013 they represent a fresh start and a hopeful future for our club and the community we serve.”<\/p>\n

She said while members and golf fanatics would always be attracted to the golf course, the driving range was proving popular among non-golfers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all the new rage. They come out and have a beer and hit some balls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beckett said she aimed to book events and functions at the club.<\/p>\n

AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can get them to drive the five minutes from the Ngongotah\u0101 roundabout, they will see just how much of a cool place it is. Once they get here, they are just blown away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Makiha<\/b><\/a> is a senior journalist who has reported for the <\/b>Rotorua Daily Post<\/b> for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Club golf professional Josh Edwards, who runs the Four Stripes Golf Rotorua shop at the club, said the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[14120,33973,28228,80354,4094,80356,252,34677,2826,80355,80352,52992,80353,80357,80351,79,13039,16,15,6095,42402],"class_list":{"0":"post-198144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-building","10":"tag-club","11":"tag-clubhouse","12":"tag-country","13":"tag-emerged","14":"tag-fire","15":"tag-five","16":"tag-golf","17":"tag-improved","18":"tag-lakeview","19":"tag-modern","20":"tag-reborn","21":"tag-ripped","22":"tag-rotoruas","23":"tag-sports","24":"tag-through","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom","27":"tag-with","28":"tag-years"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114712152819899072","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}