“It’s your honour.”
A small phrase steeped in golf tradition — usually called at the next tee to acknowledge the player who excelled on the previous hole. It’s a mark of respect, earned through performance. And in Taupō, that honour now belongs to someone who’s shaped not just a golf course, but an entire sanctuary.
This year, Gary Lane — visionary owner of Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary — was named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to conservation and philanthropy. It’s a fitting tribute to the man who turned a golf course into something far greater.
Wairakei has long held its place in the upper tier of New Zealand’s golf experiences. But it’s Gary’s deeper vision — equal parts preservation and play — that’s transformed the course into a living sanctuary. Since purchasing the course in 1997, Gary has championed a legacy of native restoration, predator-free habitat building, and meaningful partnerships with conservation groups like DOC [Department of Conservation] and Save the Kiwi.
The magical Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary carries the spirit of this royal honour. What Gary Lane has created is more than a world-class course — it’s a living sanctuary. Enclosed by a 5km Xcluder fence, the grounds are home to over 25,000 native trees, roaming deer, vibrant birdlife, and the on-site Gallagher Kiwi Burrow — a hatching facility that has seen more than 400 kiwi chicks safely brought into the world (and counting).
A few things you might not know about Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary:
- Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary can certainly claim to be the greenest golf course in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- It's New Zealand’s first fully fenced golf sanctuary (and maybe a world first) — over 5 km of custom Xcluder fencing keeps out pests like stoats, possums and rats.
- The magnificent 800-year-old totara carving at the entrance (a pouwhenua) features 30 native birds, Tane Mahuta (lord of the forest), and the now-extinct giant Hokioi eagle.
- The course is home to fallow deer, guinea fowl, and once-thought-extinct, breeding takahē — producing chicks now released into the Rees Valley near Queenstown.
- The Gallagher Kiwi Burrow (previously Crombie Lockwood) hatches 65–80 kiwi per season.
- Matariki and Hauhanga, a retired takahē pair, surprised everyone in 2015 by getting together to hatch a chick named Sammie — a first for Wairakei.
Visitors may come for the golf, but they leave having experienced something much deeper — a landscape shaped by care, vision, and a deep respect for the land. Gary never set out to seek the spotlight, but there’s no question he deserves to be in it.
Whether you’re teeing off under a morning mist or spotting a takahe from the green, one thing is certain…Wairakei wouldn’t be what it is today without Gary Lane.
And now, it’s his honour. Congratulations, Gary.
