A meeting at the St Albans Shirley Working Men’s Club in September 1964, attended by 16 representatives from 8 working men’s clubs, was to have a major bearing on the formation of the McLeans Island Country Club.

The meeting was held with the intention of forming a body called the Combined Working Men’s Clubs Golf Section Committee.

In 1967, the committee decided to investigate the possibility of creating and running its own course. It applied to the South Island Federation of Working Men’s Clubs, which supported the proposal.

With the support of 11 working men’s clubs, an incorporated body was formed called the Canterbury Working Men’s Clubs and Cosmopolitan Clubs Recreational Association. Each working men’s club was represented by one member on the committee.

Eventually, the committee was offered 350 acres by the North Canterbury Catchment Board at McLeans Island. It was accepted and leased in April 1969 for an annual rental of $750.

It was suggested the golf club be called McLeans Park Country Club, but when the first Golf Club Committee was formed on August 13, 1969, it was agreed that the club be known as McLeans Island Country Club.

The sowing of the greens on the permanent course began in August 1969 and was completed in October 1970, along with the planting of 1,500 trees. The land was old riverbed, and many days and hours were spent by volunteers removing stones from the fairways. At the second AGM, it was recorded that some 125 tons of stones had been removed.

The new clubhouse was opened on May 27, 1972. Women and juniors were admitted to the club as members in 1973.

McLeans Island entered its first interclub team in the Canterbury competition in 1974 (Simon Cup) and made its Woodward Cup debut in 1991. We now have several teams competing in interclub competitions — both men’s and women’s — and have had a few overall wins. The Over 60s team had a good win this year.

In 1983, McLeans Island became the second-largest golf club in Canterbury.

In the 1980s, the club ceased to be a Working Men’s Club club and stood on its own as McLeans Island Golf Club, as it is today.

Over the years, we have been hit with major snowstorms, which caused significant damage to our trees. The big windstorm in September 2013 also cost us many trees. Thanks to our greens staff and members who volunteered their time, a massive effort got the course playable again.

The course was redesigned in the late 1980s — No. 1 became No. 10 and vice versa, and No. 3 became a par 5.