features
Putting the links together on Kapiti Coast
With Covid-19 destroying all the best-laid plans, overseas links golf is on a hiatus for the next year or so. There will be no trips to Britain or Tasmania or Oregon to feast on a diet of links courses.
But there is a good option for those with a hankering to watch the ball scamper along the ground in the original and best form of the game – our own Kapiti Coast.
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...
18 in the 09
Michael Donaldson explores options for double-up days of Auckland golf. Auckland’s sprawling mass of land, narrowed and pinched by harbours, rivers and inlets and entangled with motorways – as a result it’s not the easiest place in the world to get around. So,...
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...
Surprise ratings from Doak
Little-known Waverley and Arrowtown are the big winners in legendary architect Tom Doak's latest guide to New Zealand golf courses writes Phil Hamilton. The straight-talking American architect, who designed modern masterpieces Tara Iti, Cape Kidnappers and Pacific...
Links golf: what are the rules?
How many "true" links courses do we have in New Zealand? Michael Donaldson investigates. We’ve all heard it – someone talking about “hitting the links” when they simply mean they’re going out to play golf. The term “links” is one of the most misunderstood terms in...
Front Nine : Unspoiled Walks
Michael Donaldson grabs his irons and explores a selection of New Zealand's best unspoiled walks New Zealand is blessed with some magical and unique golf courses – but there are some experiences that fill the senses and defy the adage that golf is a good walk spoiled....
Feel like a millionaire at Tara Iti
It is invite only, has a six-figure membership fee and a strict 'no assholes' policy. Michael Donaldson takes a look around Tara Iti, which is destined to become New Zealand's premiere golfing paradise. Forget about how the other half live, this is how the "one per...
Letting in the nothingness
Michael Donaldson takes a trip to Australia’s golfing mecca. Two golf courses. Four days. Eight rounds. Innumerable lost balls. Some blisters. Umpteen wallabies. Just one snake. We’re going to Tasmania, we said, it’s a bit like New Zealand, there are no snakes....
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