Course
reviews
Three Kiwi courses in world’s top-100 short courses
A new golf course owned by jeweller Michael Hill sits in elite company alongside Augusta National as one of the world’s best par-3 courses according to the influential Golf magazine. Hill’s latest venture, known as The Farm, opened last year. The nine-hole par-3...
Waverley offers ultimate value
The list of New Zealand courses that sit on land tailor-made for golf is a very short one. Paraparaumu, Arrowtown, maybe Tara Iti, and Waverley are about it. The small South Taranaki course appears to be well out of its weight class in this company but the terrain...
Wanaka: from lake view to the desert
Set on a ridge above the lake, Wanaka Golf Club is a cut above the usual small-town course. The front nine, unquestionably the better half, is fittingly hilly for a course set in the mountains. Steady tree-clearing over the past 20 years has opened up the lake views...
Harewood: intelligent design
Harewood is a great advertisement for intelligent golf course renovations, something sadly too rare in New Zealand writes Phil Hamilton. From the road the course doesn't look too promising as the land is as flat as Christchurch Airport, which it borders, while the...
Black-sand beauty at Muriwai
The first tee at Muriwai Golf Club offers one of the best opening hole vistas in New Zealand – and it just gets better from there. The links layout butts up against the famous surf beach on Auckland’s West Coast – it’s so close to the beach that the Muriwai Surf Life...
Top 10 New Zealand courses
Golf architecture buff Phil Hamilton rates his top-10 New Zealand courses. New Zealand has among the most golf courses per capita in the world but until recently the quality of those courses, apart from a couple of notable exceptions, was pretty ropey. However, over...
Tara Iti debuts at No 29
Tara Iti golf course north of Auckland has leapt in to superstardom after the course made its debut at No 29 on the influential Golf magazine's prestigious list of the world's top 100 courses. Tara Iti, designed by noted American architect Tom Doak, is a...
Heavenly hit at Titirangi
When I returned to New Zealand after 10 years in Australia we decided to live in Ponsonby because it was so central but when my wife "discovered" Titirangi I knew that's where we'd end up. We'd been in Ponsonby for six months when we realised living beside all the...
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