NZ OPenHe acHieved celebrity status as MicHael Hill Jeweller.Now, as Michael Hill Golfer, he’s pulled off one of the greatest coups in New Zealand sport byhaving the New Zealand Open allocated for three years to the <strong>Hills</strong>, the golf course he created onhis property at arrowtown, 20 kilometres from Queenstown. staff writer bOb HOwitt flewsouth to check out the course and for an exclusive interview with the remarkable Mr Hill.Some of the 50,000 tussock plants that featureon the course appear to almost enclose the teeboxes on the 16th hole.It’s more than 50 years sInce mIchael hIll’s passion for golf andentrepreneurial talents first merged. as a student at Whangarei Boys highschool, the enterprising teenager created the red star Golf club in thebackyard of the house he grew up in at 28 manse street.It wasn’t a particularly big backyard, but that didn’t deter youngmichael, who’d been introduced to the game by his parents who weremembers of the mt Denby club. his mother Billie was a quality player, hisfather Dick enthusiastic but erratic.With a vision that would project him as one of the most influential newZealanders of his time, michael set to with a lawnmower and 18 bakedbean cans, forming a mini pitch and putt course, the cans being sunk intothe turf to form the holes.the red star Golf club flourished. he charged 1s 6d (about 15 centsin today’s money) for a round and regularly had about 15 school mateschipping and putting away with his parents’ clubs. each session would endwith young hill on the microphone presenting prizes to the winners.the man who in 2007 has audaciously snared new Zealand Golf’smost prestigious event would acknowledge that that was where “the seedwas sown”.When hill and his wife christine opted to attend the movies in Whangareione spring evening in 1979, wearied from decorating the beautiful homethey had established overlooking the inner harbour, they little suspected itwould be the night that would change their lives forever.the house was massive, built of cedar and blocks in a hexagonaldesign, with huge windows. Because they’d overrun their budgetand exhausted available funds, they were completing the interiorpainting themselves.It was the fumes from the painting that drove them to take in a movie.they dropped their children, mark and emma, at christine’s parents’house and cruised on into the town centre. later, when picking up thekids, the phone rang. It was their neighbour. “I don’t know how to tellyou this,” she said, “but your house is burning down.”When the hills arrived at the scene, their dream house was oneincredible conflagration, the cedar and butynol roofing membrane provinga lethal mix. half of Whangarei, it seemed, had turned out, watching inawe as the house burned inexorably to the ground.What can you do in a circumstance like that, with your beautiful homebeyond saving? What hill did was to walk to a high vantage point wherehe wrote down his plan for the future. he was 40 years old and he didn’tconsider he had achieved a hell of a lot, having spent 23 years working forhis uncle in the family jewellery business. as he stood above the burningembers of his home, his future suddenly crystallised itself. he found abusiness card in his back pocket and wrote on it BUy Uncle’s BUsIness.reflecting on that traumatic evening 28 years ago, hill says the fire couldhave spelt the end of the world for him. Instead, it provided the inspirationGolferNZ OPenfor the future. “I had a vision as I stood there,” he says. “From thatmoment, I knew what I wanted to achieve.”Becoming michael hill Jeweller, the iconic character who in 1987 had aprofile in new Zealand second only to the prime minister, wouldn’t beachieved without causing considerable angst within his family circle. Firinghimself with determination to launch his own jewellery enterprise was allvery well, but the whole family was inexorably involved in his uncle arthurFisher’s long-standing business. and Fishers was recognised as Whangarei’sleading jewellery company.through a fortuitous circumstance, hill had funding available to eitherpurchase an existing business or establish something new, courtesy of afriend who had inherited £1.5 million and who was prepared to back him.hill twice offered to buy his uncle’s business, upping the antesubstantially the second time, but Fisher resolutely declined to sell. so hill,who was now bursting to express himself in the business world, was left withno option but to go it alone.he eventually purchased mcDonald’s grocery store for $19,500, a recordprice for downtown Whangarei at the time. his backer was true to his wordand by easter of 1980 the transaction was complete. Within two and a halfweeks michael hill Jeweller was in business... with seven staff members whohad been lured across from Fishers!the opening sale was a legendary occasion for Whangarei and setin motion the michael hill formula for success. his revolutionary sellingtechniques would spread throughout the country and to australia andeventually canada. the formula included dramatically different store designs,a product range devoted exclusively to jewellery and high impact televisionadvertising featuring none other than michael hill himself.he had a vision of launching seven stores in seven years. When hedecided to relocate to australia, he was close to achieving that goal, havingestablished six stores, in Whangarei, hastings, lower hutt, takapuna,Palmerston north and hamilton, with another on the horizon and his originalbacker having long since departed the scene.When the company listed on the stock exchange in 1987, it raised $3million. that was, of course, the year of the calamitous sharemarket crashand hill is immensely proud of the fact that he is the only survivor of thecompanies that listed that year. his ‘moving abroad’ sale in Whangarei wasquite an event, his store turning over in six weeks the equivalent of whatothers would handle in a year.australia was a completely different challenge, but michael hill Jewellerloved challenges. “We took the aussies completely by surprise,” he says.“We succeeded because we were different. I went on television again, doingmy wacky ads. I was perceived as a car salesman, which probably didn’t domy reputation any good, but the three shops we started with all took off.We lured people by offering them a sapphire ring at cost price. now wehave 140 shops in australia.”June 2007 the CUt 17CT Jun07 MichaelHill.indd 167/4/07 9:17:11 AMCT Jun07 MichaelHill.indd 177/4/07 9:17:12 AMwww.parkland.co.nz Reproduced from <strong>The</strong> Cut magazine Reproduced from <strong>The</strong> Cut magazine www.parkland.co.nz